Switching From the Book to the E-Book

I have always loved books. I have always loved technology. But for awhile, I was reluctant to combine the two in the form of e-books. I was so used to the physical books that I had always used, I couldn't imagine reading something that I couldn't dog-ear. I never seriously considered getting a Kindle or a Nook. It wasn't until I got my iPad in May that I started thinking about switching to e-books.

When I got the iPad, I immediately downloaded the free Kindle app and hooked it up to my Amazon account. I browsed the Kindle library and quickly became obsessed with downloading e-books. Amazon's one-day shipping, which used to seem super speedy, now seemed like a huge wait. I could download a book and have it ready to read within minutes! I filled my library with a range of books and I had what seemed like endless options at my fingertips. Downloading e-books became addicting, and I fell in love with them before I had even read one.

I didn't actually get to reading a book on the iPad for a few weeks. I had been meaning to read a few other books, so I read those first before moving to the digital books waiting for me. When I first read on the iPad, I hated it. It felt awkward. The page turning was weird. I couldn't go back and easily find a page to reference a conversation I forgot. And my least favorite part--it was harder to track my progress with the book. First of all, you can't see page numbers on the Kindle, you see percentages. Second of all, you can't physically see how far you are in the book. You can see the percentage bar, but you can't feel it and see that you have read half the pages. These two things almost turned me off of e-books. However, the advantages of e-books far outweigh these two negatives. Here are three of my favorite things about using my iPad as a Kindle.

1. You can have any book immediately. As I already said, this was the first thing I fell in love with. I can look up any book and, as long as it isn't super obscure, I can download it immediately. For impatient people like me, this is amazing.

2. You can have a large number of books, all in one place. This is huge. Although I love the look of a full bookshelf, books simply take up space. At school, I really don't have room for a huge book collection. Now I can have tons of books without taking up anymore space than the thin iPad. It's also great for traveling. I can bring many books with me without needing to lug a few around with me. It's a huge space saver.

3. It's great for reading books for school. I had to read The Year of Magical Thinking for one of my classes and I had it both on my iPad and in physical form. For some reason, I decided to read it on my iPad. I was kind of nervous, since I was so used to using real highlighters and taking notes in the book. Although it was slightly harder to highlight and take notes digitally, you can see a list of all of your highlights/notes which makes it so easy to find important quotes! I downloaded the Kindle app on my computer, imported the book and therefore imported my highlights/notes. So while on my computer in class, I could easily find things I found important.

Although I do love having a physical book, I can't get over the convenience of the Kindle application. I haven't bought a book in a very long time. If you're at a loss of what to ask for for the holidays, definitely consider asking for an e-reader, whether it's the Kindle, Nook, iPad or any other brand. I'm absolutely obsessed.

What do you think about e-books? Do you use an e-book reader, or do you prefer to have the physical copy? Why?