The advantages and disadvantages of E-books.

Im sure if you are a regular user of eBay you will have come across an "e-Book" on your travels! E-Books (Electronic Books) are becoming increasingly popular on eBay with many high profile sellers choosing to sell e-Books over your standard hardback/paperback book. Before I start looking at the advantages and disadvantages here is a brief description of an e-Book!

What is an E-Book?

The term "e-Book" stands for "Electronic Book". It is exactly the same as a regular book, however e-Books can be read on your PC and are usually delivered via email therefore saving on any postage costs. E-Books usually come in two formats:

.PDF - These can be opened in Adobe Acrobat reader
.EXE - These can be opened on any Windows PC without the need for any additional software to be installed, they wont however run on MAC`s.
Advantages of E-Books

Here are some advantages of an e-Book:
No shipping costs, delivered via email
Print off as many copies as you like in your own time
A lot of e-Books come with resale rights so you can sell them again numerous times over after you have bought them!
The price - You can find most e-Books floating around eBay for as little as 99p!
Information is available in e-Books that you cant find in regular books
They are searchable - With a print book, it can be very frustrating to try to find something youre looking for. Even if the book has an index, they might not have indexed this particular thing, or they might have used a different term. But with a PDF eBook, you can quickly find any word or phrase anywhere in the book!.
Convenient - Many times, you may just need a page or two on paper from a book for example, a recipe from a cookbook, or a procedure from a manual. With an eBook, this is easy and convenient. And if you spill chocolate syrup or raw eggs all over the recipe, who cares? Just print it again! You wouldnt feel that way about spilling chocolate syrup on a whole cookbook.
Easy to find - Ever misplace a book? Or spend hours looking through all your shelves, and maybe a few boxes as well? It's easy to find an eBook on your computer and a lot harder to lose your computer than a hard-copy book!
Environment - eBooks are better for the environment you're not killing trees.

Disadvantages of E-Books

Some people don`t like reading books on their computer screen
If choosing to print an e-Book you may use a lot of printer paper!
.EXE e-Books wont open on MAC`s.

So there you go, as you can see the advanatages far outweight the disadvantages. Remember if you are ever in any doubts about the quality of an e-Book or the format check the sellers feedback or ask them a question, Im sure they will be more than happy to help!