Tech Term of the Week: What is an ebook?
An ebook is just the digital form of a regular book. Instead of having an inch-thick novel in your hands, you have a file sitting in your computer, tablet, smartphone, or ebook reader.
You can read ebooks on your desktop or laptop, but if you want them to feel like the real thing, you can read them using your tablet instead. Tablets with a screen size of 7-inches are about the same size as a trade paperback, so you can at least pretend that you have a printed book in your hands.
Advantages of Ebooks
The great thing about ebooks is that you can have thousands of them in your ebook reader or tablet. You can switch between ebooks anytime you like. This surely beats standing up from your bed and reaching for a new book from the shelf. Also, think of the convenience when you travel! You don't have to lug around books in your hand-carry anymore.
If some printed books seem to have really tiny text that makes them hard to read, you can say goodbye to that problem. Another great thing about ebooks is that you can change the font size to suit your vision. You don't have to squint anymore to make out the words. Conversely, you can make the font smaller if you want to take in as much as you can in a single page.
When you want to buy ebooks, you don't have to go to the bookstore and look for the titles you like. Just log on to online stores and buy as many ebooks as you want from the comfort of your own home. And guess what? Ebooks are less expensive than printed books because they don't use paper to be mass-produced. Thus, you can sustain your bookworm lifestyle without hurting your budget.
Amazon started pushing ebooks when they started shipping their ebook reader, the Kindle. With a low cost, and with a screen that uses e-ink, it made ebooks popular. Amazon just happened to be a very large online bookstore, and along with the Kindle device, Amazon has made sure that customers can access an extremely large collection of ebooks online. Amazon makes a free Kindle app available for Android and Apple devices, in addition to their own readers. Their approach to buying ebooks is "purchase once, read everywhere." So if you have an Apple or Android smartphone or tablet, you can read your Amazon books using the Kindle app.
Ebook Readers and Apps
In addition to Kindle devices, iPads, iPhones, Android tablets, and personal computers, there are a few other ways to purchase and read ebooks. Barnes & Noble offers ebooks through their Nook reader device, and the free Nook app is available for Apple and Android devices. Apple offers books through their iBooks app, and Google has books available from their Google Play store. Google even makes a reader app called Google Reader that works on Apple devices.
Public libraries offer ebook borrowing and have apps that usually work with Kindle, Apple, and Android mobile devices. Your local library can tell you what app they use and how to borrow ebooks from their collection.
Ebook Stores
Something to be aware of when buying an ebook from one store is that it you will likely need the app or device from that store to read your book. In order to keep you as a customer, some of the ebook stores don't let you read your ebook in another app or device. For example, any ebook you purchase on Amazon requires a Kindle reader or Kindle app, and your Amazon ebook can't be accessed by the iBook of Nook app.
Since Amazon, Google, and Nook are all available apps for Apple and Android devices, you just need to install the app on your tablet or device to read the book. A nook reader, however, won't be able to access your Amazon books. As a result, the iPad is the most versatile device since the iBook app is only available on Apple devices, and as a result, Apple devices have the widest selection of ebook reader apps.
However, since Amazon is such a large ebook store, Amazon still has the edge over all the other ebook stores in selection and availability of ebooks. As a result, many people have both a Kindle reader and a tablet. The Kindle is less expensive than a tablet and with the latest technology from Amazon, called Paperwhite, almost looks likes a printed page.
Earlier Kindles didn't have any built-in lighting, but newer models do, and make an excellent dedicated ebook reader which I still consider the best ebook reader on the market.
Printed Books Are Still OK
The printed book is still an excellent way to read. It's lightweight, portable, and many people still prefer the fresh smell of the pages of a new book. But you've got to admit that ebooks have their own uses and charm.