eBooks or Hard Copies?

In this increasingly digitally affiliated world we live in, there's been a great brouhaha surrounding the future of books and the nature with which we'll continue to consume and read them. As tablets and eReaders continue to permeate the public sphere. The topic of who prefers what with regards to the format of books has been a consistent topic of discussion and for good reason - each pose their own individual pros and cons.

The first side of the debate stems around the more "natural" feel of holding a book in ones' hand, and being able to smell and feel the pages. This might sound a little strange, but I know the types and a majority of these book-lovers still traditionally enjoy their books as they've been for centuries - and they look towards those whom purchase eBooks as alien, and struggle to comprehend the prospect of storing an entire library on a device or in the cloud.

On the contrary, those whom purchase eBooks could argue the fact that they no longer need deal with crowded and cluttered bookshelves and misplacing books. To them, having their collection on hand, all the time, seems a fair trade-off for losing that "intimacy" with the book.

It easily seems like a valid point. For starters, you no longer need worry about going out to a book store or ordering a book online and waiting for it to arrive - instead you can purchase straight from an online store and have an eBook downloaded in less than a minute. Moreover, depending on the size of your tablet/eReader, chances are you'll find using these are more comfortable and you won't require two hands to keep the book open, which usually only wrinkles and damages the spines of paper books anyway. Provided these devices are kept in good condition, you needn't worry about dog-ears or stains on pages either.

At this point, you must have a sense of which side I lean towards, but it's not as clear-cut as that.

I'd owned my Nexus 7 for a good several months before I finally decided to give eBooks a chance. Apart from web browsing, using social media, occasionally listening to music and playing games, I wasn't using my tablet for much else. I'd tried eBooks on the puny 3.5" screen of my Defy a couple of years ago, and wasn't all that impressed by its effect on battery life and strain on my eyes. This was where most of my apprehension derived. Whilst both eBooks and hard copy books affect the eyes of readers differently, they nevertheless do take a toll in the end. On a poor display, it doesn't make the experience a joy at all.

The primary reason I finally decided to move into the realm of eBooks was because I realised there wasn't much of a point in owning a portable tablet if I wasn't prepared to use it to its fullest potential. For starters, battery size and life on a Nexus 7 compared to a Defy is considerably greater, and this is particularly apparent when consistently reading  in night mode, which effectively blackens the background and whitens the text.

Another reason was because at times I struggled to find certain books in store or online for order, and the collection available in the Play Store for instance satisfied this void and pain of having to backorder books and wait even longer for them to arrive in stock, and subsequently ship. Not only that, but prices also tend to be more affordable, and whilst ten dollars for the classic Pride and Prejudice in its conventional hard copy format doesn't break the bank, an equivalent eBook fetching 87 cents is far more appealing, and in my opinion, worth what the actual book should be.

Amidst all this however, I'm still at a crossroads. I'll purchase eBooks, but at the same time I find myself clinging to, and likely continuing to purchase hard copies of books I thoroughly enjoy. I'm no avid reader by any means, and realistically while I should be embracing the technological age in whatever means possible, I find myself almost inextricably drawn to the idea of adding to a physical library and having a series of books I can pick up off the shelf and shut down from technology for a moment to lose myself properly in a book. One could argue it's possible to imitate this with a tablet by disabling its WiFi/data connection, so as to deter from other distractions, but let's face it - it isn't the same. Reading an eBook outside and under the sun isn't all that pleasant at the best of times either, as more often than not, glare on displays will likely impede on readability, and your device will gradually heat up and become uncomfortable to hold or have on you.

Sharing books with friends and family also poses an issue if you have an Android tablet. It's not as simple as handing the tablet to someone to read one of your books as it is to lend an eReader to them, or a hard copy. Along with the eBook, almost everything else personal to you is tied to your Google Account, and provided you're incredibly trusting of that individual, or have failed to consider the implications behind this - chances are you won't be able to let others "borrow a book".

Unlike lovers of old-fashioned books, I find the 3D graphic effect of a page turn on a tablet equally satisfying as the real thing, and am not fazed by the loss in "feel" as much as the inherent distractions and screen readability issues (at times) on my tablet.

How do you feel about this? Have you made the switch to eBooks, or are you still a fan of books in their traditional format?