ebook or not ebook ?

It is interesting to take a look on the 2000's to see the evolution of the individual behaviors. The conclusion is that if the new technologies had an impact on people they also developed nomadism.
Mobile phone, Laptop, MP3 players, Portable consoles ... and now the e book readers !
Inspired by others media readers the e book based it main utility around reading books. More pleasant and less aggressive than a computer the main characteristic of e books resides in the screen which is optimize for reading.


The Amazon Kindle (2nd generation)... if I had to buy an e-book it would be this one.

Advantages:

• An e-book can be purchased, downloaded and used immediately, whereas when one buys a book one has to go to a bookshop, or wait for a delivery.
• There are over 2 million free books available for download as of August 2009.
• Educational text books (e-textbooks) can be distributed at a lower cost than print versions per student.
• E-Books can be printed for less than the price of traditional new books using new on demand book printers.
• Text can be searched automatically and cross-referenced using hyper links.
• A single e-reader containing several books is easier to carry around (less weight and volume) than the same books (or sometimes even a single book) in printed form. Even hundreds or thousands of books may be stored on the same device. Using removable media even more can be carried around easily.
• Also at a fixed place such as at home it can be an advantage that an e-book collection requires very little space.
• Mobile availability of e-books may be provided for users with a mobile data connection, so that these e-books need not be carried around.
• Font size and font face can be adjusted.
• E-books may allow animated images or multimedia clips to be embedded.
• Depending on the device an e-book may be readable in low light or even total darkness. For devices for which this applies, energy consumption for reading without daylight is less than that of a lamp needed for reading a printed book.
• While an e-book reader costs much more than one book, the electronic texts are generally cheaper. Moreover, a great share of books are available free of charge. For example, all fiction from before the year 1900 is in the public domain.
• It is easier for authors to self-publish e-books.
• A free e-book can stimulate the sales of the printed version.

Disadvantages:

• Reading e-books requires an electronic device and software. Even in the case of reading it on a personal computer one already has, it may require additional software.
• A small paperback is easier to carry around than a typical e-book reader.
• E-book readers require electrical power; in the case of mobile use, the battery can get exhausted.
• E-book readers are more susceptible to drop damage.
• E-book readers are more likely to be stolen than paper books.
• Depending on the device an e-book may be difficult to read in bright sunlight.
• Most publishers don't produce the e-book equivalent of their printed books. In other cases the product quality is lower or it is released later.
• If an e-book device is stolen, lost, or broken beyond repair, all e-books stored on the device may be lost (Although this may be avoided by backups either on another device or by the e-book provider).
• Screen resolution of reading devices is currently lower than actual paper.
• Some books available as e-book cannot be read on some e-book readers because they are not supplied in a format those readers allow.
• While printed books remain readable for ages, changing technologies and less durable electronic storage media require e-books to be copied to a new carrier after some years.
• E-book readers require various substances to produce, and are an environmental hazard as they're non-biodegradable.
• More expensive, compared to used books.
• A book is safe from electromagnetic pulses and overloads.