Widespread Adoption Of E-Books
E-books could be referred to as digital media that are similar to print outs. They could also be referred to as books that are in electronic format or version but similar to conventional printed books. As every aspect of life seems to be undergoing a kind of revolution, printing industries are not left behind as they are also moving from analog to digital times by offering books online or in other electronic formats. This essay is going to look and discuss in depth about issues that surround its widespread adoption.
In the beginning there were very few books that were available in electronic format as people were reluctant to adopt them. In most cases it is only books that were familiar and in the public domain were published as e-books but of late even new books are available in fact, this mode has given new authors a platform to market their work. E-books requires one to have an electronic device such as a phone or a computer to be able to read them and specific software such as Dedicated e-book reader and Adobe PDF for one to be able to read them. (Viney, 2005).
Just like it is the case with other thing, that is having merits and demerits, the same applies to e-books and these factors in one way or the other affects their widespread adoption according to Bergeron and Blander (91). There are those factors that favor its adoption and these are things like; you can carry around a lot of information on a very simple device such as compact discs and phones. It is much easier to search for information in e-books than in other ordinary printouts as you can go to a specific page automatically without having to turn pages one after the other.
Many publishers opt to publish their books in electronic form because of various reasons such as; it is cheaper to publish e-book than to print ordinary books which requires a lot of color and labor. Another thing that leads to its adoption world wide is the fact that unlike ordinary printouts, the case is different when it comes to e-books as you can adjust the font size and backlight to suit your needs. On the other hand, there are those factors that undermine its world wide adoption and these are things like; e-book might require internet connection, requires electronic devices such as phones and computers.
Again you have to buy some recommended software such as Adobe PDF reader which costs more than the book itself something that hampers its widespread adoption. Electronic devices are prone to malfunctioning and thus can become faulty anytime when you least expect it and thus it is not reliable. Again this book requires electronic devices that use electrical power thus adding the cost of having it plus it becomes a limitation to areas where there is no electricity. In other circumstances, author’s effort and time spent becomes a waste when their work is hacked by pirates and sold cheaply to readers.
There are also reasons such as environmental diversity of end users for example e-books requires particular properties for machines for one to read them like specific resolution of the screen, screen size and other things (Viney, 2005). Again this book requires different software for one to access it on another machine making it very costly when you factor in the cost of the software plus the book itself something that impedes on its widespread adoption (Bergeron and Blander, 2002).
Indeed departure from analog books to digital e-books is the height of civilization but as it is the case with new products to have no easy flow in the market, e-book has been no exceptional as there are a number of hindrances that hamper its widespread adoption such as the need for specific reading software that are very costly and electronic devices that consume a lot electricity. Despite this, e-book has its advantages such as; it is easily accessible, portable and less costly when it comes to publishing.
