My “real” books back in 2002
I know what you’re thinking; surely you mean physical books vs ebooks! No, I do not. That would include Amazon’s AZW3 format which I’d advise any booklover to steer clear of. Using only EPUB, we now have a fair contest.
EPUB is a Documented Standard
EPUB’s are essentially just some HTML files, images and some metadata files, stored in a zip container. The following screenshots show the directory structure of The Strange Case Of Dr. Jekyll And Mr. Hyde from gutenberg.org:
and If we have a peek in the OEBPS (Open eBook Publication Structure) folder, we’ll see all the chapters:
and here is the first chapter as rendered by muPDF:
EPUB Advantages
Project Gutenberg
Here’s the first advantage: Project Gutenberg. You can start building your library from a selection of 75,000 copyright free books. Seriously, this alone defeats physical books in my opinion. The best books ever written freely available to download and read.
Backups!
As EPUB’s are just files, you can back them up to multiple locations. Maybe not so important for Gutenberg downloads, but for ones you’ve paid for, probably something you should consider.
Customizable
Use your favourite font, change it’s size, alter the margins, the line spacing, the kerning, the contrast and so on. Try doing that with a physical book!
Space Efficient
EPUB’s take up no physical space. Once you’ve boxed up all your physical books a few times when moving home, you’ll see this as a big annoyance with a decent size physical book collection. Well, I certainly did.
Physical Book Advantages
Ownership
You own the book and no one can take it away from you. That’s often an argument put forward by those who prefer physical books. I would point out that all books with current copyright will have terms that you have to agree to. Such as you won’t copy it, lend it etc.
Simpler to Use
A physical book is certainly simpler to use, I grant that. No devices needed. No power required, just a light source.
Tactile Experience
I can see the logic with this one too. Back when I had lots of physical books, each one had it’s own feel, smell, “personality”, almost. You don’t get that with a file. Still, the emotional impact of reading an EPUB is exactly the same as reading a physical book. Ultimately, it’s not about the format, it’s about the information.
Conclusion
One reason I decided to make this post, is that my sixteen year old daughter has requested a few books for Christmas. I told her she didn’t have to wait as I’ve already got them as ebooks. She didn’t want them! She wanted the physical versions instead. This led to a discussion of the merits of physical vs ebooks. She’s still at the age where she knows best, so refused my challenge to try and read an ebook. Ah well…
I’ve had both. Physical books and ebooks. Back in the day, we didn’t really have a choice. Ebooks weren’t really a thing so if you wanted books, off to the bookshop, you had to go.
Now, we do have a choice. Whilst I’m very happy that physical books continue to outsell ebooks, I’m EPUB all the way. The ereaders we have nowadays are arguably better than paper, what with their built in lights and tinkering options, and have proven their reliability over the last eighteen odd years. Oh, and if you want to read EPUB’s on your Kindle see this post which should point you in the right direction.
Afterword
You may be wondering where all those physical books are now… Well, in a supreme act of selfless generosity, I donated nearly all of them (I still have one small box in my wardrobe) to my son’s school. The librarian was delighted when I phoned up offering them and even more so when I delivered them, which made me feel fuzzy inside.
