Will E-Books Ever Supercede Traditional Books?

First let me explain what an e-book is. Ha! Ha! Most people who are on the Internet already know what one is, but here goes. They are electronic books based either on traditional books or are written by people like you and me to provide readers with information for a profit. For example, somebody might write an e-book on some of his grandmother's favorite recipes. The e-books I am talking about are the ones people read for pleasure, such as Stephen King.

Will e-books ever supersede real books? That is an interesting question. I am forty-four years old and have been an avid reader since I was ten years old. When I was not in class or running for the track team, I always had a book in my hand. Whether it was "Nancy Drew" or "Judy Blume" I was always reading, even when I went on long car trips with my parents. When I was younger, I averaged a book a day. Today, I do not read as often as I can because I work full-time, am married and have two teen-aged daughters. Still, I like to sit down with a good book once in a while.

The problem I have is I tended to go to different stores, garage sales and flea markets and buy books. While some of them I would read and pass on to somebody else, there were some that I wanted to keep. The problem is, our house is small and eventually my collection of books would continue to grow and force us to move.

With the rising sales of hand held devices, I decided that I should invest in one to read e-books. While I could sit at my computer and read an on-line novel, this did not cut it. I wanted a more portable device, one that I can carry around with me.

I finally decided on a Palm Tungsten E2, which fit into my budget. Now I can carry an entire library in the palm of my hand. This is an excellent piece of technology.

Advantages:

1. Excellent memory - if my battery dies, I will not lose information. This is great because I tend to forget to put it on the charger.

2. Memory slot - You can buy memory cards for the Tungsten E2. I have a 100meg card, but there is also a 1gig card. So basically, I can have at least 80 books on one card.

3. Very user friendly - once I knew what I was doing, it is very easy to use.

Disadvantages:

1. I have a tendency to forget to put the Palm on the charger. Sometimes, I am in the middle of a good book and, all of a sudden, the Palm shuts down

2. My Palm only takes e-books in PDF or e-book reader format. Each hand held device has a different type of format. Therefore, I might have to search the Internet for a while until I find an e-book in my format.

3. E-books still cost money. I have to shop around looking for the best price. For convenience, I go to fictionwise.com. However, their prices are almost what I would pay if I purchased a real book. They do offer discounts and free books if you join their book saver club. You can go on websites that have file sharing such as limewire.com. However, many of those e-books may not be legally shared.

4. Cats - I have to mention this. My Palm has a hot sync cable which allows me to transfer books that I download to my Palm. One of my kittens chewed the wire in half. There were no local stores that have this. So I had to order a new one on-line and have to wait a few days until I get it.

While I love my Palm and find it convenient and easy to carry, I personally do not see e-books superseding real books. There are more readers in the world than people who have the latest technology. I even like sitting down with a book with my cat on my lap. I love browsing the public library and Barnes and Nobel. It is a habit of mine to buy a book and then to sit down and get a cup of Starbucks. There is something very nostalgic about that.