Seven Reasons Behind The E-Book Phenomenon
Entertainment, Travel, Lifestyle, Technology
Reading has undergone a massive paradigm shift over the last couple of decades following the advent of the internet, e-books and perhaps most importantly, e-readers. Today, you can literally walk around with hundreds, even thousands of e-books inside compact e-readers. And when you get tired of reading, these e-readers can be used to surf the web, check email, and even play mobile casino online games.
However, the appeal of e-books and e-readers are not limited to just the above factors. There are several other functional and logistical reasons behind their surge in popularity.
Multifunctionality of E-books
As alluded to earlier, e-book readers are highly versatile devices. Modern e-readers are sometimes as powerful as tablets and smartphones. You can listen to music, engage in social media banter or visit an online Casino or two while commuting on the bus or train. Heck, you can even install shopping or banking apps on these devices instead of using your tiny smartphone.
Easy on the Eyes
Modern e-readers are optimised to deliver the best viewing, or rather, reading experience for our eyes. In the event the automatic brightness and contrast settings don’t work for you, you can manually toggle the settings to achieve optimal viewing experience.
Users also have the option of changing the font size as well as the ambient environment (night, evening, etc) to better optimise their devices – and none of the settings will affect the people sitting beside you.
At the end of the day, a balanced setup will reduce the strain on our eyes and allow us to be more immersed in what we’re reading.
Ease of Packing and Travelling
The most visibly apparent benefit of e-book readers is the size – or relative lack thereof. When you go on holiday, no longer will you have to worry about the size and weight of reading materials to bring on the trip (and the resulting cost if you’re travelling by air). When you’re travelling by bus or train, you will never have to worry about bumping elbows every time you turn a page.
If you’re a student, these devices might even save you from potential life-long back pain caused by heavy backpacks!
24/7 Accessibility
The internet connectivity of e-readers allows you to stay connected to your books at all times. You can catch up on the latest chapter of your favourite books from the Starbucks next to your office or while queuing in a line at the post office.
You could also surf the web to check on an application status, order food, or continue a game at your favourite online Casino NZ with just a few clicks. No more rushing back home to watch the latest Shaanxo YouTube video uploads or check the latest All Blacks score – you could do all this on the go using your e-reader!
The Convenience and Economy of E-books
Amazon became the largest online retailer in the world on the back of its book sales. People bought millions of books from Amazon because of the convenience. They no longer had to spend hours going to bookstores every time they needed to buy a book; they could simply order the books online, and they would be delivered as early as the next working day!
Things just can’t get better than this, right? Wrong. With e-readers, you can buy books at a fraction of the cost of paperbacks or hardcovers. What’s more, delivery is almost instantaneous!
In addition, you don’t even have to buy the books – there are literally tens of thousands of public domain books which you can download and read for free, such as Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice, Herman Melville’s Moby Dick and Arthur Conan Doyle’s The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes.
Read Aloud
One of the most enduring memories of our childhood is being read stories during bedtime. If you still wistfully look back on those memories, maybe it’s time to activate the read aloud feature on your e-reader. As the name implies, the device will ‘read’ the text inside the book.
On a more practical note, this feature is extremely useful when you’re driving, doing work or even jogging.
Additionally, this feature is capable of helping people with visual impairments and learning disabilities to enjoy books! Imagine how joyful it must be for them to be able to listen to their favourite stories anytime they want!
Environmentally Friendly
How may books do you read in a week? A month? A year? Imagine how many trees need to be chopped down to manufacture the paper needed for the books. Imagine the amount of fossil fuel burnt to generate electricity to power printing machines and distribute books using aeroplanes, trains and lorries?
Now imagine reading those books using an e-book reader. Can you imagine how much smaller your carbon footprint will be? Converting to an e-reader will make you a part of the solution, instead of a part of the problem of global warming and climate change.
