Books can be found in bookstores, libraries, newsstands, specialized stores, and in almost any establishment. As treasures of knowledge, most books that are sold are relatively expensive.

With the advent of the internet however, books have become more affordable. In fact, one can have them for free or for a few dollars. These books can actually be acquired by a single push of a key, saving the reader a lot of money and a trip to the bookstore!

We are not referring to books that are made up of pages of paper bound together and enclosed in cardboard. We are referring to e-books.

An e-book, short for electronic book, is a digital media counterpart of a standard printed book. An e-book is read on personal computers, personal data assistants, or e-book readers which are dedicated hardware devices. Usually, a reader program, usually a PDF reader, allows the e-book to be displayed on screen.

E-books have several advantages. The text in an e-book can be searched automatically and cross-referenced through the use of hyperlinks. This feature males an e-book a very good choice for reference-heavy publications such as dictionaries, reference works, textbooks, almanacs, and encyclopedias.

Another advantage is that e-books do not require shelf space since they are stored in a computer hard drive, an SD card, or a CD. Since a CD can store around 500 average-size e-books (that is equal to a number of shelves of print books), you can have a whole personal library with just a few CDs. E-books can be offered to clients indefinitely without an out-of-print date. This allows authors to continue to indefinitely earn royalties.

The print of some conventional books are so fine that readers can have difficulty figuring them out. This problem can be solved by using e-books. With an e-book reader program, the reader can adjust the text size and, sometimes, the font face. With a text-to-speech program, e-books can be converted to an audiobooks, useful for blind people or even illiterate ones. If the reading device is backlit, e-books can be read in low light or in total darkness.

E-books can be more comfortable to read than conventional books since the reader does not have to open and hold it open like a paperback. With a personal computer, e-books can be read hands free.

Replicating an e-book can cost nothing. An e-book can be copied instantly and in many quantities. That means backups can easily be made and difficult to eliminate. A great amount of editorial and authorial freedom and room for experimentation can be enjoyed by independent publishing house that publish e-books.

Furthermore, text errors can be easily and quickly rectified. Sometimes, this advantage can even be transferred to users to update their copies in place.

E-books can also save a publisher money, especially if the publisher also engages in printing books. The good thing about reproducing e-books is that they do not require ink, paper, or other resources used to print conventional books.

E-books can be downloaded from a website to a PC or a reader from the internet. E-books cost a fraction of a conventional book, and the process of downloading is very quick. As mentioned before, he doesn’t need to go to a bookstore.

Also, because e-books are not physical in nature, they are not subject to wear and tear. They do not succumb to dust, heat, moisture, or sunlight. There is no risk of damage, vandalism, or degradation to e-books’ pages.

However there are also disadvantages to e-books. They cannot be read without an electronic device such as a PC or an e-book reader. They need special software to be read.

The biggest problem is digital rights management. Since everyone can download an e-book free of charge or minimal fee, an author suffers due to the infringement of copyright and distribution.