Ebooks
Advances in technology in recent years have increased the availability of books in many different formats. Audio books that can be downloaded to a reader's home computer or portable music device are increasingly popular as people choose to listen to books at their convenience. Books on cassette and compact disc are also widely available. However, the most recent innovations in publishing concern the development of electronic books, better known as Ebooks.
Ebooks are simply electronic or digital versions of actual books. Rather than a paperback or hardback copy of a novel, an ebook is a digital file which contains the same copy electronically. These books are generally read on a personal computer or a smart phone and in recent times specialist ebook reader devices have come out in the market.
The main advantages of ebooks over traditional books are in the accessibility and flexibility of content. For example, a single e-book reader has the memory capacity to store many hundreds of books and while a library of literary work can be carried in a device no bigger than a simple paperback work. As the ebook is stored digitally the files can all be held on the e-book device's hard disk.
Another main advantage of electronic books is that it is easier to navigate the text itself. Font faces and sizes can easily be altered to the reader's specific requirements and it is possible to annotate and amend text non-permanently. Links can also be included as well as images and other multimedia features.
With the increasing number of online services offering access to ebooks it can also be cheaper to obtain the texts a reader requires. For example, works written prior to 1900 are all in the public domain and so can be downloaded and read in ebook format free of charge.
The main critics of ebooks point to the technological problems of using ebook readers, namely the potential loss of battery power or other software malfunctions that may lead to a device being unusable. Ebooks can also be lost if there is a problem with the hard disk of the device.
Notwithstanding these concerns, ebooks are becoming more and more popular, especially with the increase in availability of the two market leading ebook readers. There are many online retailers (including major booksellers) now offering their works in ebook format to customers who want the ease of storing a number of works in a small portable device such as an ebook reader or cell phone.
Ebooks are convenient and have led to a burgeoning market in titles as authors can make an ebook available much more easily than a traditional published copy. The choice of titles available to download worldwide has increased dramatically over recent years and so the growth in popularity of the ebook is set to continue as more and more ebook readers and retailers enter the market.