Some people prefer to read paper books and some prefer to read ebooks. Neither viewpoint is right or wrong, but each comes with its own set of advantages and disadvantages.
For some people, once they start reading ebooks there is no going back to paper books. Ebooks are more convenient in a number of ways, and they offer more features than paper books.
In no particular order, here’s a list of 10 reasons Kindles (and other ebook readers) are better than paper books:
1. Saves space—ebooks don’t take up any physical space so there’s no need for massive book shelves, and you don’t have to haul around boxes full of books whenever you move (I still have boxes of paper books clogging up my closet from over 10 years ago that I don’t know what to do with).
2. Customize font size, font thickness, and page layout.
3. Integrated light to comfortably read at night, and you can use the light without bothering someone else.
4. Paper books fall apart; ebooks don’t. Enough with publishers purposely using low quality bindings so you have to keep rebuying their books if you read them more than twice.
5. Kindles make it possible to carry a library of thousands of books in your pocket wherever you go, and you can easily read multiple books at once.
6. Reading privacy. You can read anything in public without people seeing the cover of your book and hassling you about it.
7. Extra features like a built-in dictionary, support for multiple languages, you can add highlights and notes without damaging the book, look-up things online, save reading position, etc.
8. Kindles are easier to hold than paper books, and they’re a lot lighter than hardcover books and easier to carry around.
9. You can download new books anytime you want without going to the store or waiting for them to arrive in the mail, and you can even borrow ebooks from public libraries without leaving the house.
10. It’s easier to keep a Kindle clean than paper (no more dusty books with smudges on the pages), and waterproof models are impervious to water damage.
I strongly disagree with $3. Apart of low contrast, light from screen is very intrusive. I use an OLED tablet with black background and grreen or cream text.
Black background? I strongly disagree!
Both formats are enjoyable. Some reasons for print:
Reading with your kids
Sharing books with friends and family
Collecting
Browsing in a shop or library
Digital detox
Deep reading, learning
First sale doctrine
Privacy
Not all books are digitized
Touch, sight, smell
Printed art, comics, photos more enjoyable
Print is more popular, better selling
Why would print be better for deep reading and learning?
I’m guessing he is talking about technical books. School, college, or just instructional.
I’ve tried. Most of my programming, electrical &,mathematics books just don’t work on a Kindle for a couple reasons.
1. They are all physically large books 11″ x 9″ and 1-3″ thick. Viewing them on a 7″ screen is painful and near useless. You really need a good 10″ or larger screen to view the pages..
2. The subject matter is complex. Lots of diagrams, pictures, graphs, etc. It’s not conducive to e-ink.
I downloaded .pdf version of most of my school books. It’s still a little weird reading them on a computer. I guess I’m waiting for a 8.5″ x 11″ tablet/e-reader that doesn’t cost $500.
+1 for “8.5 x 11” ereader at a reasoanble price point – or perhaps as part of “books” within tuition 🙂
I agree. Although I much prefer an e-reader for my pleasure reading, I still try to use print books for school work. Much easier to flip back and forth in a print book and as you said, look at diagrams, charts, etc. within the context of the text.
And also would buy a large pdf reader if they prices came down a bit.
For technical books — it still easier to navigate a — go back and forth in a chapter with print books.
11. Not all the books are worth the paper used for printing.
But worth your time reading? Doesn’t seem like a valid point.
How could I know before reading? There are paper books that I have read once and regret purchasing it. If I had Kindle version only simple delete would suffice. Ergo waste of paper.
Mmm, Sure, but why Kindle. that should be 10 reasons why an ereader is better than a book.
12. They never sell out of ebooks.
But they do take books out of online stores, Its not like a library in all ways, you could trust your library to keep the book as long as its usable.
Adjust able fonts and line spacing for folks with old eyes . @@
I was going to list all the reasons I still read paper books, but it looks like you have covered it all. Even the odor. There is nothing like opening a new book to read–even an old book sometimes. I read both ebooks and real books and enjoy each.
Some
To add to @Mike’s defense of print: Ebooks can be surreptitiously censored. In this age, that is especially worrisome. Will ‘Tom Sawyer’ be the same work the next time you reread it on your Kindle? Will Solzhenitsyn’s books be altered just a little here and there? Something to think about…
Difficult to prop a door open with an ebook.
1. Yes
2. Yes
3. Irrelevant for me
4. Complete bs. My parents have mmpbs older than me that are in great condition. Libraries have hardcovers from the earlier part of the 20th century in excellent condition. Books endure.
5. I don’t keep a Kindle in my pocket, I keep my phone in my pocket. I also only read one book at a time, but your point stands even if it was exciting a decade ago and a very boring note in 2020.
6. No, Amazon and Kobo track all of your reading habits unless you tell them not to, and they probably still do but don’t sell it. There is no privacy with ebooks but there is with physical books.
7. I will give you the dictionary but nothing else. You know there is such as bookmarks right?
8. Yes
9. Yes but for avid readers such as myself not relevant you just add the book to a tbr pile
10. Dusty? Dust jackets exist for a reason, and Kindles can get dusty too. Not relevant.
On #5 it is worth it for people to do the math on how many books they will read before they die. It is likely in the hundreds and not thousands. Keeping thousands of books on a device that you’re not using for reference is largely a waste of time. Keep buying up ebook bargains that you’re only mildly interested in then you’re filling up your device with books that you don’t have time for and not terribly passionate about… is not really great.
Strangely enough, I have a hard time reading regular books. After The Kindle Keyboard came out, I have been almost exclusively an e- reader…the exceptions are technical manuals.
Your no 2 -fonts, size and boldness, that I pick instead of a publisher is a big win as I prefer san serif for most reading.(to each their own).
The built in dictionaries have expanded and sharpened my vocabulary and reading comprehension.
6. No, Amazon and Kobo track all of your reading habits unless you tell them not to, and they probably still do but don’t sell it. There is no privacy with ebooks but there is with physical books.
The solution is to not connect your e-reader to the web. If you want software updates, download them via your PC/Apple and send them to your e-reader by USB connection. A relative who was an early purchaser of a Kindle goes years between updates. As far as I can tell, the only Kindle updates I found useful were AZW3, (page numbers) and font updates enabling more font choices -especially bolder fonts.
On #5 it is worth it for people to do the math on how many books they will read before they die. It is likely in the hundreds and not thousands.,
Point taken. There is no way I am going to read all of my e-books, but I haven’t read through all my print books either.
Regarding #7, what about Wikipedia integration? Whether I’m reading Patrick O’Brian novels, or historical nonfiction, I am constantly referring to Wikipedia for more information.
Odd that no one has mentioned one of the obvious advantages of eBooks. They do not require trees to be cut down. I call that “odd because this is supposed to be an era of environmental awareness.
One pro to ebooks is all the damage I’ve done to my poor print books hauling them around everywhere. Bent corners, best spines, knicks, dings, tears, water damage, etc. On the rare occasion I take a print book with me, I have to carefully pack it so it’ll stay safe from harm. I can just toss my Kindle in my bag and not worry about any physical damage to the case or the Kindle itself.
For those with print books that they don’t read anymore, I recomend donating them to a thrift store, a Goodwill,. or your local library if they accept donations. I love going to thirft stores and finding books I never heard of. The cheap price makes it easy to take a chance on it and sometimes I walk away with an absolute gem.
I read both paper and e-books. I have a huge collection of science fiction, fantasy, mystery, and various non fiction books that I have collected starting when I was eight with Little Women and I am now sixty three.
Nowadays I buy most of my fiction in the e-book format. I find it more convenient. I read a lot on my phone when I am out and a tablet at home. I use apps so I am not stuck having to buy just from Amazon or Barnes and Nobles.
The advantages are they don’t take up physical space, they don’t get banged up when I take them with me. I always have a book to read if I finish a book when I am out I can easily get another. I still remember getting stuck on jury duty without a book it was a nightmare.
Now e-books are not great for everything I find that for a lot of non fiction books like cookbooks, garden books, craft books anything with instructions the print can be to small. It is the same with graphic novels maybe for young eyes but I get frustrated reading them having to enlarge every panel. And lastly older books often suck they were not formatted just scanned in and they often are impossible to read with all the errors those I buy used.
So I honestly think for readers we have the best of both worlds. And it comes down to preference.
Wow, can’t believe you didn’t mention search. For non-fiction in particular, searching across your entire kindle library at once, for anything within your collection, is magnificent.
Eric -I totally agree…one of the main reasons I keep my Kindle Oasis. Nothing else like it.
Carol, one issue you mentioned – jury duty. My job requires me to testify in court periodically and there is always a long docket ahead of us that I have to sit through. But I’m not allowed to have any electronics out or on b/c they forbid recording in the courtroom and they won’t even allow an ereader. So I learned the hard way to carry a paper book for that!
But my biggest plus for ebooks is going on vacation – no more lugging my Collected Works of Shakespeare, or the Omnibus of Sherlock Holmes. And what if I take a paper book along, try it and abandon it, then I’ve got to go out and buy more. Not so with my ereader.
11. It is easier to turn the pages of an ebook.
What happens to your ebook account when you die?
With physical books someone else can get them.
Will someone in your family be able to inherit your ebook collection? Or will all the money you spent on ebooks be lost?
Just a thought.
I love both book formats. Ebooks for practical reasons of space and weight. And light when reading in bed. I used to always have books with me wherever I went, and I normally read fiction and nonfiction at the same time (not just one or the other). Now I don’t need to choose which book to bring with me.
But nothing beats the feeling of a paper page between the fingers while reading. And the books on my shelf.
I find myself rereading a book more frequently when it is a physical book.
You don’t own any books you pay for from amazon you licence them. So they could delete them if the device is connected but how would they know.
If yoy registered the device in your name it wipes previously downloaded books (kindle ereaders)
I’m dyslexic and switched to a kindle because of the font choice and size. then came the open dyslexia font which took a while to get used to but now I read so much faster and rarely have to re read sections that have phased out
12. You can easily create your own books. For example, collection of web articles, old html books…
Guys, I understand the pros but, I love to have physical books. I love to borrow them to my friends, and I want to have thousands of them in my library. Books have a soul, you will not find it in digital format.
Hello Nathan! I agree with all points you mentioned in your blog. I also prefer kindle eBooks than paperbooks as I can carry them with me anywhere and can read anytime whenever I have free time. I also read paperbooks but the 1st choice is always eBooks!
This site has a wealth of details, comparisons & recommendations, but it seems one perspective is missing.
I would like an eBook reader, but exclusively for the use of free eBooks.
I will continue to buy physical books for paid items.
I lost most of my movie & music collection to DRM & so I won’t buy any digital DRM products. I avoid digital content like the plague, unless it is free.
I would like to explore sites like Gutenburg with a eReader, but which one makes this the easiest & most pleasant experience, without the need to transfer files via USB & all that cripplement?
I imagine I would sit in bed, browse gutenburg, download something & start reading. Then leave the eReader on the bedside table when finished.
I don’t own a mobile phone, so I’d need to buy a new device.
It would probably need wi-fi, a web browser & reader app, but otherwise i’m not interested in any apps, games, email or any of that, Those features don’t add any value for me & won’t be used, – just exclusively for the use of free eBooks.
Pretty much all modern ebook readers have basic web browsers that can download DRM-free ebooks. It’s also fairly easy to remove DRM from purchased ebooks for free if you have a computer. You can also borrow ebooks from public libraries. Kobos make it easy because you don’t have to use a second device to check out the ebooks. Authors giveaway ebooks for free all the time too.
I do enjoy reading books on my kindle PW2, no doubt. BUT. Not stock reader, no way. I have bought PW2 only because of the screen, but definitely discarded the reader if it was impossible to get rid of the default reader program as the only reader program in the kindle. The default Amazon approach to locked set of file formats, line spacing, margins, idents and fonts is just driving me mad, because it doesn’t fit my preferences in all the possible ways. I reed lots of fb2/epub, and absolutely don’t care at all about any Amazon book releases, not a single :). Never needed any “features” like X-rays, wifi, collections and so on. Just need a decent contrast front-lit screen and good battery life, my selection of speed and convenient reading fonts and the line spacing/margins tuned up to my preferences, not some average 3 options. If that was not possible I’d opted out to printed versions or some other reader featuring some decent e-paper.
You could also donate your old books to prisons. inmates are always looking for something new to read.
Why is the title of this article “10 Reasons Kindle eReaders Are Better Than Paper Books” and why not just “10 Reasons e-books are Better Than Paper Books” ?
Probably because coming up with titles that are going to catch people’s attention is difficult, and if I used your suggestion then some of the numbers like 3 and 8 aren’t going to make much sense if it’s just comparing ebooks in general. I could’ve been more general in the topic by using “ebook readers” in the title but here in the US Kindles are the main draw so what’s the point. More people are interested in “Kindles” than “ebook readers”. If I would’ve used Kobo or Nook in the title instead of Kindle this article would have about 5 comments now instead of 40 because nobody would read it.
I am a so called technomaniac and got my first ereader almost 15 years ago. I started reading again since die to my neck osteohondrosis i could read regular paper books. Then eventually from eink reader i went for a kindle fire to read even at night time in bed. So I should love people who invented such extremely useful technologies. A lot of useful literature is on PDF and for that i wait a large and still light tablet or colour e ink reader that’s designed to cause less eye strain.
Most of the 10 are highly irrelevant.
1. Save trees
2. Save from the dump
3. Portability of a multi-thousand book library
People got over the smell and ambiance of the horse and buggy. They can get over the same of the paper book.