E-Reader Vs. Hard Copy Books
I had refused to buy an e-reader when they first came out because I felt too attached to hard copies. When I was a student, the text seemed to became more of my own the more I underlined words, circled passages, and wrote in the margins. But when my go-to bookstore, Borders, shut down, and I was sick of waiting a few days for a book to be shipped after ordering it online, I decided to suck it up and give the e-reader a try.
After having a Kindle for a few months now and reading several books on it, I feel like I can give it fair judgement. Below are the pros of the Kindle versus the pros of hard copies:
Kindle Pros
- Convenience/mobility – much easier to transport than a thick novel
- Speed –
faster to download book rather than going to the closest bookstore or having it shipped
- Durable – don’t have to worry about water damaged pages, faded ink, torn pages, or broken spines
- Access to new material that may not be available in hard copy/easier to get published (may be a con depending on the book)
- Earth friendly – saves trees
Hard Copy Pros
- Convenience – easier to flip through pages to find the passage you’re looking for
- Easier to write notes in the margins
- Sensory experience – enjoying the cover of the book, feeling the individual pages and the smell of paper and ink
- Sustainable/durable – never runs out of batteries and not worried about getting it a little wet or leaving it in the sun
- Aesthetics – can be put on display on a bookshelf or used for home decorating purposes
While I have come to like my Kindle, I’ve concluded that hard copies are not
dead for me, and I don’t think they ever will be. There are certain books I want a hard copy to display on a book shelf as a sort of trophy or memory of my enjoyment of the story. For convenience, books that I need immediately, are too big to be totting all over the city or that I’m not sure if I’ll like, I will download to my Kindle. Whichever medium you prefer, at least you can count on the story being the same!
