Audiobook, eBook, or regular books? What are the pros and cons of each?
We’re glad you asked.
Maybe you’re trying to consider what format you should get for the next book you’re buying. Or maybe you’re just looking for some ideas to get the most out of each format of any book.
As technology improves, we have more options than ever to consume information. This is awesome because more options mean we can determine the best method for us as individuals.
The publishing industry has seen a significant boost in sales with the release of eBooks and audiobooks. This has lead to many changes in the industry, including the revival of older books which are now profitable, and thus, accessible to readers who want them.
Audiobooks have become a booming market. People now are able to listen while they’re on the go, whether they’re commuting to work, walking through a park, or just cooking dinner. eBooks are huge as well, as people can download and store any book on their eBook reader and read from anywhere.
But not everyone is on the audiobook or eBook bandwagon. In fact, surprisingly enough to many, the most popular way to read a book is still just the regular book.
With this said, each format of book has advantages and disadvantages. And that’s normal for any new medium or format of anything introduced. Some people still prefer to write on pen and paper instead of computers or cell phones, for instance.
We are going to go into the utility of all format of books, starting with the electronic book, or eBook.
Electronic Books (eBooks)
Although printed books are still the most popular, many people prefer eBooks as their personal favorite way of reading. There are many reasons for this, as we will now discuss.
Pros of eBooks:
- Highlighting: Highlighting is very easy with eBooks. You can easily make highlights without worrying about the integrity of the book. On most eBook readers, it’s also easy to scroll through the book to find your highlights. This is a huge plus for most non-fiction readers because a review session is essential to truly learn all of the contents of the book.
- No Clutter: You don’t have to worry about having a massive library to store your books if you’re a huge reader. This is a huge space saver. If you move to another state or even a foreign country, this is a huge plus.
- Portable: You can take your library anywhere you go. Everything is stored in your online account.
- Transferrable: Popular e-reading programs such as Google Play and Amazon Kindle let you easily transfer your books between devices.
- Easy to Store: With the Kindle and the Nook, all of your purchased eBooks are easily found on your account, which can easily transfer onto your cell phone, tablet, or eReader.
- Note Writing: Many eReader programs allow you to write notes in the book without messing up the integrity of the book.
- Can Retain the Book Look and Feel: This is not true of all eReaders, but the Kindle Paperwhite (aside from being an excellent eReader) largely retains the feel of reading a real book.
- More Connected: You can connect your books to services such as Goodreads to connect to other readers easily.
- Cheaper: eBooks are cheap to produce and distribute for authors and publishers. Therefore readers can typically purchase these books at a considerable discount from the paperback or audiobook versions.
- More Accessible: Anyone who can write a good book and market it reasonably well can put their work out there and get paid for it. It no longer takes an author to have a large publishing deal to write a new book. This is particularly true of the eBook format, although it has become true of the paperback as well. Therefore, more quality writing can be released by writers who would have been discouraged in the past.
- There’s a Market for Shorter Books: We’ve said it before, but we love shorter books. Good short books can give you an excellent background on an issue without getting too in-depth and with too much fluff. eBooks make it profitable to write a high-quality quick book.
Cons of eBooks
- Not a Physical Copy: Some people just prefer a physical copy of the book they own. Some don’t feel like they’re actually reading unless they have a book in front of them. And others like the look and feel of having a massive library in their bedroom, living room, or home office. To some, having the ability for guests to look through their book collection is a plus.
- Require Power: If your eBook reader is not charged, you aren’t reading anything on that eBook reader. This can be a big negative if the power is knocked out, or if it’s out of battery with no nearby power source.
- DIstractions: Depending on what you’re reading with, the notifications that pop up on your device can be extremely distracting. This is especially true when you’re reading eBooks on a tablet or phone instead of a device such as a Kindle. This takes away from your focus and from the experience of reading the book, and this is why we recommend a Kindle Paperwhite (see below).
The Rundown on Electronic Books (eBooks)
Overall, if you like convenience, portability, and easy highlighting, eBooks are your best overall bet.
We generally prefer reading eBooks on a Kindle. For this, we recommend the Kindle Paperwhite because:
- It gives you the book look and feel.
- It stores all of your books on the device.
- It has Wi-Fi to download books and connect online, but doesn’t distract you with popups.
- It has an excellent battery life.
- It removes all distractions when reading.
- It is very reasonably priced.
Overall, the Kindle Paperwhite makes reading easy and accessible. It can be taken anywhere you go and you can easily transfer your library and highlights to any other Kindle-supported device.
Audiobooks
Like electronic books, audiobooks have revolutionized the industry for authors, publishers, and readers. Even many people who don’t like to read books turn to audiobooks to get the information they desire.
Audiobooks have made the information found in books much more accessible to everyone. As we will discuss, they have many advantages and a few disadvantages.
Pros of Audiobooks
- Can Be Listened to Anywhere: This is huge. It doesn’t matter where you are as long as you have a device with your audiobook, such as your smartphone, with you. You can be in the mountains hiking, an airplane, in the kitchen, or anywhere else. This is huge for when you just want to finish the book you’re reading and you have other things to do.
- No Reading Required: Naturally, audiobooks don’t require you to look at the book and actually read. This is a huge advantage because you can listen to an audiobook while you’re doing almost anything.
- Productive: As long as you are not focused on a task that requires a lot of attention, such as driving in dangerous conditions or learning to cook a new meal for the first time, you can often “multitask” while listening to audiobooks. Tasks that are automated to your brain, such as cooking meals you know how to cook, cleaning, and driving in an area that you know well (PSA: drive safely), can all be paired with audiobook listening to effectively multitask.
- Pairable: Amazon allows you to pair a Kindle book with an Audible audiobook. If you use Kindle on your phone or tablet and you purchased the Audible version as well, you can have the audiobook anytime time you want to stop reading and start listening. This can be extremely handy if you want to continue the book you’re reading while you have to do something else, which, again, should be something your brain has already automated.
- Bookmarking: Although the bookmarking and highlighting method is simply not as good as an eBook or physical book, you can bookmark a 30-second clip of their book with Audible. You can also share this with a friend. This is not perfect but it’s much better than nothing.
Cons of Audiobooks
- Highlighting is difficult: As we just mentioned, you can bookmark a section in Audible which you can go to later. This is a great feature, but it’s still not nearly as good as if you have an eBook or physical book to highlight. It’s just a lot easier to read your highlights on paper or on an eReader instead of listening to 30-second clips of them.
- Large files: Audiobooks take up a relatively large amount of space on your device. This may not be an issue if your phone has a large SD card in it, but it certainly can when you combine it with everything else on your device. Audiobooks are typically between 50-300mb.
- Require Power: It’s worth stating that Audiobooks naturally require a device with a power source. This can be a disadvantage if your phone battery is dying or if the power is out.
- More Expensive: Audiobooks are more typically expensive than both the eBook and the physical edition. This is mostly because they cost more money to store and distribute than eBooks, and because of studio, labor, and voice-actor costs plus royalties.
The Rundown on Audiobooks
Audiobooks are excellent for learning and listening on the go, but they are less useful if you’re looking to read the book to take notes. However, they can be paired with an eBook version on a phone or tablet to make it easy to listen, read, and highlight the eBook as necessary. For fiction reading, you probably will be less concerned with highlighting, so this is less of a consideration.
If you like Audiobooks, we highly recommend an Audible membership. They will allow you two audiobooks for free for the first month, and the books are yours to keep even if you cancel your membership. From that point on, it’s $14.99 a month for a “free” audiobook plus a 30% discount on the next audiobook you purchase that month.
Overall, audiobooks are excellent for listening on the go, and Audible is a great deal if you listen to audiobooks frequently.
Regular Books
Ah yes, plain ol’ books.
Regular books are not going away anytime soon. Readers, in general, still prefer regular books over eBooks and audiobooks. And frankly, it’s not even close. This may change in the future, but it’s the trend right now.
So with that said, what are the pros and cons of regular books? We’re glad you asked.
Pros of Physical Books
- No Power Needed. If the power is out or if your phone or eReader is dead, you can still read your book.
- “That New Book Feel”: Regular books give you that classic book feel. Some people just prefer the look and feel of a new book over reading one on their Kindle.
- You Own a Physical Copy: Many people just prefer to feel like they own the book, and they feel that they don’t actually own the book on an eReader or cell-phone.
- No Changes Can be Made: One cannot change the words in a book. This means that there’s no chance of censorship. While censorship has not been an issue with books, it has become an issue with other online mediums such as YouTube, Facebook and Google. There’s always a chance this can spread to books in the future, so hard copies are good for this reason.
- You Can Build a Physical Library: Some people want to actually own a library in their home. They look classy and they like that people can come over, borrow, comment on their library, and so forth.
- Easily Borrowed: If you want to lend a book to a friend, it is easily done with a physical book.
- Distractions Can Be Eliminated: Regular books take away distractions if you allow them. You can take a book out to the park, for instance, and leave your cell phone at home. Reading in nature without any distractions is awesome.
Cons of Physical Books
- You Can’t Read in the Dark: Not without a reading light, at least. Some readers like the atmosphere of a dark room with a good book, and many just find it easier to do with an eReader instead.
- Space: If you’re a regular reader, your books end up taking up a lot of space in your home.
- More Expensive: Most books are incredibly cheap compared to other things you can buy. However, when you compare the prices of different types of books, regular books are more expensive than eBooks. This can be a much bigger problem for large hardcover textbooks students need for school.
- Highlighting: Some people don’t like to highlight in their books because they feel like it damages the integrity of the book. Without highlighting or at least having a note system, you really aren’t getting the most out of a book. Although some people don’t care, this can be a big downside for many readers.
The Rundown on Regular Books
Physical books are great for those who want a physical copy for various reasons. They still remain the most popular method of reading, despite the increasing popularity of eBooks and audiobooks.
Conclusion
We hope this article helped you look at the pros and cons of regular books, eBooks, and audiobooks in another light. Perhaps you learned something new, or you thought of a new way to use one of these mediums to your advantage.
Or maybe not. Maybe you think our articles are useless.
Probably not though, we think they’re pretty good.
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