It wasn’t at all easy on the eyes to read from digitally looking, bit with the invention of e-ink it’s possible to display user friendly text on the screen. The e-ink made it possible for us to use electronic text which is very much similar to a printed page.

The ebook devices are easily available online and don’t have to run from store to store in search of it. Once you make an online purchase the product will be delivered to your home. And can immediately start using it by downloading ebooks from the net onto the electronic device. Yes! Loading an ebook device is that easy.

Using portable ebook reader means that you don’t have to carry those heavy piles of books with you. But still you will have access to an immense collection of books on the ebook device all the time. This portable device can be a perfect gift for person who is a victim of stroke who loves reading but can’t do so because of paralysis in one of his arms. Since an ebook device is portable and easy to handle, it can be very useful to him.

Having a portable ebook device means you can read ebooks where ever you want to. You don’t have to carry your laptop with you in order to finish the book which you were reading. These devices are much more portable and smaller than the laptops and the text format is easy on the eyes.

Since ebook readers enable us to read ebooks easily and conveniently, these devices are growing in popularity. Ebook publishers have noted that an increasing number of people are choosing ebooks instead of the traditional bound books. Going by the trends, authors and publishers these days are publishing their work in digital formats. This practice of publishing ebooks also saves the storing and publishing costs of the respective publishing companies. And there is also less risk involved in publishing ebooks.

Similarly having an ebook device means that you don’t have spend huge amount of money buying those expensive books. Ebooks are comparatively lower in price and you can easily download them on your computers and then transfer it to the ebook device and in many cases you can download it directly on you ebook reader.

The Early Days

E-books have a lot of advantages over conventional paper books. Though some still hold the opinion that nothing digital can replace the smell and feel of actual books, there are a considerable number of people who are keen to adopt the latest technological advancements. The first set of digital books, or the earliest digital library per se, was Project Gutenberg which was set up in 1971. Although e-books were little known at that point in time, this set of digital books quickly caught the fascination and the curiosity of millions of readers. No wonder that Project Gutenberg is doing great business even to this day.

Slowly, as e-books started gaining popularity, people realized that this is a much easier and more convenient way of getting hold of books and reading them. Corresponding to this was the fear that it might take a heavy toll on the eyes. After all, staring at the computer screen for a long time, no matter how much technologically advanced it is, can never be good for the eyes. To solve this problem, the first electronic e-book readers were launched in 1998.

The Present and Future

Electronic e-book readers quickly became popular as these were great ways to read e-books. One of the main advantages that scored big was its portability. This hand held device can easily be carried anywhere, with a capacity to hold as many as 50-80 full length books nowadays. Followed by Sony in 2006, Philips launched its e-book reader enabled with e ink technology.  Amazon Kindle, probably the most favorite e-book reader was introduced in 2007. These have the facility of copying books from your PC and at the same time download digital content from the Internet.

And now, with color e-books being produced by Fujitsu in Japan, the future of electronic e-book readers is shining bright to say the least!

For some, however, traditional books still top the preference list. The pleasure of reading seems incomplete if one is not able to smell its pages, or look at the various scribbling patterns that have been done on it through repeated use. And of course, there is always a threat to the eye if one stares at a digital text for a prolonged period of time. This is the main reason why various companies are launching electronic book readers. These are devices that have been developed for making e-book reading a more pleasing experience. You can put any digital content here and read it as if you are reading an actual paper book.

There are many advantages that electronic book readers can boast of. Three of them are:

1.    There are various varieties that can cater to every individual need. Features like book marking, page turning, adjustable fonts and background make e-book readers extremely useful when it comes to reading digital text. For example, you can choose the font color, size and background of your text depending on the light conditions you are in.
2.    Most e-book readers come with a huge memory capacity, a part of which is in-built. You can of course expand it by inserting an SD card. This allows you to carry almost 20 books in this device at any given time. Hence, you are saved from the trouble of having to carry heavy books while you are traveling. Imagine the load of 20 books in your luggage! But now all this can be compressed into one hand held portable device!
3.    Buying e-books is also much easier than ‘actual’ books. You just need to place an order with the online stores and you will receive your copy in no time! The days of standing in a long queue to get your book are long gone. Now everything is just a click away. Just transfer the book into your e-book reader and voila! You are all set to go on a reading spree!

These three advantages of electronic book readers are enough to anticipate its bright future!

Following are the reviews of two of the most popular digital e-book readers:

1.    Sony Portable Reader (PRS 500): This is one of the most preferred e-book readers. It gives a pleasurable reading experience and favored by many. An e-book review of this device will tell you why:
o    It is easy to carry and has a 10 GB expandable memory, 8 GB of which is in a memory stick and the remaining in cards. As a result it can store as many as 80 books in its in-built memory and also facilitates download of additional content.
o    It has the capacity to provide 7500 page turns. The txt size is adjustable, i.e. it can be magnified if required.
o    It has an excellent resolution of 166 dpi and has eight levels of gray scale and is readable in broad sunlight.
o    It costs $295.

2.    Amazon Kindle: This is another popular e-book reader. It is developed to suit the requirements of the new generation readers. An e-book reader review of this device will consist of the following points:
o    It is as thin as a magazine and weighs only about 10.2 pounds. Thus, it is almost of the same weight as a paper book and at the same time provides a great reading experience.
o    It has facilities like turning pages, vertical page reading and hence approximates actual ‘reading’ to a significant extent.
o    It provides a Wi-Fi feature which can be used to download content via the EVDO cellular network.
o    It costs $259.

The e-book reader review of most of the devices available in the market can be accessed on the Web. Make sure that you go through them before spending your money on one!

If you want to have an e-book reader it is really not necessary to go out and splurge on the latest e-book reader devices such as Kindle and Nook. This is because you might already possess a device that can serve your purpose if you equip it with the right application. And the following open-source software can help you do just that.

1. The FBReader is free software that works on

•    Windows XP/Vista PC’s and laptops
•    Linux PC’s
•    Various other Linux-based mobile devices such as Motorola Smart-phones and Nokia internet tablets.

If you use it on your e-book reader hardware, you can get the benefit of the following features.

•    Automatic library building, which means that the various e-books that you download will be systematically stored for better accessibility.
•    Embedded image, footnotes and hyperlink support.
•    Text search and automatic generation of a table of contents.
•    Full-screen mode and direct reading from .zip archives.

2. Calibre proclaims itself as a ‘one stop solution for all your e-book needs’. It is basically a,

•    Free, open source and cross-platform software
•    Software that works on Linux, OS X and Windows platforms.

The Calibre has become really popular because,

•    It enables format conversion of e-books, for example from .PDF to .doc.
•    It is equipped with library management tools.
•    It can sync easily with your other mobile devices such as the iPhone.

3. A great open source software for your e-book reader hardware is the Flipbook. This is a beta version of a new e-book reader released by The Internet Archive and can read scanned books stored on their website. It supports e-books in many different languages and can even be used to view blogs.

The main reason why you can use these open source software for your e-book reader hardware is that in case you do not like one, you can easily use another. There are no switching costs!

Moreover with the growing popularity of ebooks people were looking for a device which will store the ebooks and which will be convenient to use. Again it isn’t easy to carry around the laptop in order to read ebooks. There was a definite need of a more portable storage device.  To feel up this need ebook reader was introduced.

Using portable ebook reader means that you don’t have to carry those heavy piles of books with you. But still you will have access to an immense collection of books on the ebook device all the time. By getting yourself a portable ebook device you can read ebooks wherever and whenever you want to. You no longer need to carry your laptop with you in order to finish the ebook which you were reading. These devices are much more portable and smaller than the laptops and the text format is easy on the eyes.

Having a ebook device also means that you don’t have spend huge amount of money buying those expensive books. Ebooks are comparatively lower in price and you can easily download them on your computers and then transfer it to the ebook device and in many cases you can download it directly on you ebook reader. You don’t have worry about losing a page from your books and also preserving those books.

Above all ebooks are also environment friendly. If traditional books can be replaced by ebooks in school, colleges and library then it will help in minimizing the carbon footprints by each individual. Publishing of paper books involves production, transportation, storage and even disposal. But none of those activities are involved in publishing ebooks. So you can play a useful role in saving the environment by buying yourself a ebook reader this holiday season.

This is because unless you know how to select an e-book reader, you may well end up utterly confused with the variety that’s on offer. So it is important that you consider the following criteria while buying an e-book reader.

1. Think about your reading habits carefully. For example if you are a person who likes to read while commuting to and from work, you might go for a very light weight model that can be easy to carry on your person. On the other hand, if you read only when you are indoors, portability might be a secondary consideration.

2. Consider the hardware capabilities of different e-book readers. If you are an avid reader then you might need a device that can process text fast and so there is very little response time while using the different functions. The device must also be able to store lots of e-books in order to be able to fulfill your reading requirements.

3. The viewing screen is a very important aspect of any e-book reader. A good e-book reader must have a screen that is large enough to facilitate easy viewing. This is necessary in order to maintain good eye-health.

4. Make sure the device you choose is versatile. This means that it should read many different file formats (such as HTML, PDF, DOC etc), which e-books come in. It should also be compatible with other portable devices such as PDA’s and laptops, so that you can transfer e-books easily.

5. Check for additional features such as text search, bookmarks, adding notes and touch screen functions. If you want these features you might be willing to choose a higher priced model.

It is also a very good idea to read e-books on your PC before you actually invest in an e-book reader. After all, making the transition from old-world to digital, takes some adapting for sure!

Amazon Kindle is a highly developed e-book reader which converts an electronic book to almost a ‘real’ book. When you use the Kindle, you are made to feel that you are holding a page of a paper book. Therefore, it is much more convenient than a conventional computer screen or even a high end laptop if you want to experience the pleasure of reading books while lying on your bed, or when you are traveling. Following are some of the most attractive features and specifications of Amazon Kindle:

1.    One of the most advantageous of the Amazon Kindle specs is that it uses E ink technology which enables an electrophoretic display. This considerably reduces the risk of any eye hazards that may occur due to continuous staring at the computer screen. At the same time, it allows reading in any light conditions, though it isn’t backlit.
2.    Content or e-books can be downloaded at any time via the EVDO cellular network. This network comes to Amazon Kindle free of cost. Alternatively, you can also go for copying e-books to the Kindle from your PC through a USB interface.
3.    Another lucrative of the Amazon Kindle specs is that it can store around 200 books in its embedded memory which can also be expanded with an SD card. It has helpful features like the dictionary which can explain a passage of the book, an easy Web browser, and also provided with it is a headphone to listen to any audio books.
4.    E-books that you download in the Kindle are charged a small fee of 99 cents.

These Amazon Kindle specs are enough to understand that this has taken the experience of e-book reading to a completely different level.

Kindle not only supports books from Amazon but it can also read Mobipocket text formats, HTML, Word documents and audio books from Audio.com. It also supports MP3 music.

Kindle doesn’t carry a LCD screen but instead uses a user friendly electronic ink, taking into consideration that it’s very difficult to read from digitally look screens. The electronic -ink supports electronic text which is very much similar to a printed page. And Kindle devices are loaded with this e-ink which will make ebook reading much more comfortable. This also means that the device doesn’t have a backlight and you won’t be able to read it with a light source.

For turning the pages of an ebook the device is fitted with external buttons. The “next page” button is present on both the sides of the screen to make reading easy.

On Amazon kindle you can adjust the size of the fonts according to your needs. When you’re using small sized fonts you will get two to three paragraphs in a page. And if you’re using larger fonts you will get fifty to sixty words per page.

The search option allows quick navigation. You search through your books collection pretty fast by using the search feature.

Amazon kindle has a battery which lasts long. But it loses charge if the wireless service is kept on. You can use the battery for a couple of weeks without charging if you don’t turn on the wireless connection.

The wireless service on the Kindle reader is pretty fast and efficient. You can get a quick access to Amazon nook store whenever and wherever you want to. You can buy books and download them within sixty seconds. And since it supports 3G service you can buy books from anywhere apart from Amazon.

The Amazon reader also enables you to make small notes on any part of the book. This feature is very helpful when you fell like highlighting certain important portions of a book.

As you can see that the Amazon Kindle comes with some amazing and helpful features, you should definitely think of gifting yourself one this Christmas!

Ebooks comes with a number of advantages and benefits which are discussed below.

•    You can purchase ebook sitting at home from the internet without having to go to a bookstore looking for one. You can easily download the material on your computer after making the payment. And every time you read the document you don’t have to connect to the net. You get a print out of the material or if you have an ebook reader you can get it uploaded.
•    Ebooks are eco-friendly. Unlike traditional book publishing, ebook publishing doesn’t involve felling of trees for paper, transportation and storage.
•    Ebook are easy to store and it wont take up huge spaces in your house like normal books does. You can store thousands of book on your desktop or laptop.
•    Ebooks are portable to carry, to can keep them in a CD, pen drive or a portable book device which are very light to carry around.
•    Its much safer to store ebooks than normal books, they are much more durable and you no longer have to worry about losing a page from the book.
•    Its easy to search information in an ebook by clicking on the right buttons, here you don’t have browse through every page to get the information you are looking for. It’s very user friendly.
•    The text fonts in the ebook can be adjusted according to your convenience which cannot be done in case of normal books.
•    Some ebooks are interactive which have audio and video content for better understanding.
•    Ebooks are affordable so you don’t have to spend huge amount of money buying those expensive books. Ebooks are comparatively lower in price because it doesn’t involve huge production costs like normal books do.
•    Ebooks are easily available all the time, its possible to make a purchase twenty four hours a day. All you need you have is a computer with an internet connection. A person living in a city to a person living in the county can buy ebook anytime they want to.

So after looking at the number of advantages of using ebooks, you should definitely buying those expensive books and inculcate a eco friendly habit of reading ebooks.