E-Reader Pros And Cons : All You Should Know Before You Buy It. | ARON HACK 亞倫害的

E-Reader, also called E-book reader, E Ink, ePaper. It is a device designed for long-time reading. There are plenty of brands on the market, including Readmoo from Taiwan, Kindle from Amazon, Kobo from Rakuten, Likebook and Onyx from China. I use a Kobo E-Reader, so I will take Kobo for examples. However, these features are the same on most E-Reader.

This article will introduce the features, pros and cons of E-Reader, without model recommendation. If you want to read it , please link to another article 〈電子書閱讀器怎麼選？先釐清需求，再找推薦文〉.

Why I Chose Kobo

When I considered to buy an E-Reader, it was hard to find information and review of Likebook and Onyx. As a result, I removed these two options. And Readmoo, Kobo and Kindle, which one is suitable for you? It depends on the languages you prefer to read.

In my situation, I bought Traditional Chinese books the most, and some English books to practice English. Therefore, I hope to pick a platform with Chinese and English works.

The slogan of Readmoo is the “Largest E-Pub Platform In Traditional Chinese Market”. Exactly, most books on it are all in Traditional Chinese. Delete this option.

Kindle has a super rich backing and users around the world, so most books on it are in English. Some popular Chinese books are not available.
Delete this option.

Finally, I select a neutral one, Kobo.

There is a point I should mention. My main requirement is “Buy Books From The Platform”, but if you want to download EPub file from the internet, you will consider it in other ways. In my opinion, the price of books are not really expensive, so I hope you can buy it rather than downloading a pirate version.

Let’s start to learn the advantages and disadvantages of E-Reader.

Pros

1) Protect Eyes

Health is the first thing whatever how many books you read. E-Reader is more harmless than screen of cell phone and tabled. The latter called LCD screen which mix red, green, blue light to display colorful content. On the contrary, E-Ink screen doesn’t have a illuminating backlight. It relies on ambient light, similar with real books. This is the reason that it can reduce the harm to our eyes. (Some E-Readers have built-in screen light, so you can read in a dark environment. Usually, you can turn this feature off by your self.)

Although you can read the same content on computer, tablet and cell phone, there is a significant difference on comfort. In this video, you can see the the display effects of E-Reader.

Many people asked me, “Don’t you feel tired to read suck a long time on that device ?”
I always answered, “Take it and try it”.
After a while, they would exclaim, “Cool. It’s like a toy”.

What if we compare E-Readers with real books? I didn’t search any evidence to support, but I believe real books better. It really makes sense. However, there is another advantage on E-Readers, adjusted layout.

2) Adjusted layout

Reading in a close distance makes many people have nearsightedness. In some cases, we read nearer and nearer unconsciously because of the small fonts. Especially some old books with tight layouts.

E-Reader has several powerful features :
(1) Adjusted font size
(2) Adjusted line height
(3) Adjusted font type：it depends on settings of each brand. Buy I think built-in fonts working fine.

In my opinion, adjusted layout is an awesome function to protect eyes.
I am nearsighted with 4.0 diopters and astigmatic with 1.0 diopters. When using my E-Reader, I would increase the font size and read in a long distance without glasses to train my crystalline lens.

Besides, most people lower their heads when reading. Staying the same pose for a long time will cause pains to your neck our shoulders. As sick as me, I bought a music stand to stand and read, preventing to lower my head. Or you can use tablet stand.

You may ask, “Isn’t is inconvenient to flip page when standing and reading?” Lazy people invented a gadget called Wireless Page Turning . It seems not so popular, and I never use it either. But it is really cool.

3) Without Wait For Delivery

In two cases, you can’t wait anymore to get your new books. First, you need it right now for work. Secondly, you want to read the book immediately.

Needs and Wants motivate evolution. E-Reader makes you progress in a astonishing speed.

Be Fast, Be Invincible

天下武功，無堅不破，唯快不破

– 周星馳電影《功夫》

For career, I believe the words without hesitation. Perhaps we are not the most brilliant or the outstanding ones, but we can buy new books soon to acquire knowledge after hearing a new concept. And your colleagues? He is going to pick up his package after work.

If You Are A Mood Reader

One day, I enjoyed my holiday with brunch and coffee. Suddenly, I had a spur-of-the-moment idea, “It is a good time to read poem”. I picked a poetry on my cell phone, then connect the E-Reader to the hotspot of cell phone to download. This process was done within 5 minutes. Such a beautiful day.

Sometimes, we get tired soon when reading a book that is not easy to understand, like〈Poor Charlie’s Almanack: The Wit and Wisdom of Charles T. Munger〉. And you want to read a novel next. Without E-Readers, it is nearly impossible to change a book at will, which means you should carry them all in your backpack.

E-Readers represents a new lifestyle. Especially for people who need to spend a long time on transportations, with an E-Reader, the train is movable coffee shop.

4) Save Notes And Highlights To Clouds

If you are an user of Online Note Software, Evernote, OneNote or Google Keep, for example, you must experience the awesome convenience. It also works on E-Readers.

We all had similar experiences, like refreshing and upgrading our brain after reading some books. Of course, we wrote down plenty of notes on almost every page. At that time, we believed we could bring them forever, reviewing when we need or we want. It turned out as a fantasy if you didn’t digitize them.

Upload to cloud, retrieve anytime, anywhere.
Best of all, you can search in notes after digitalization. All bookish people know this is very important.

Sync Notes On App

Take Kobo for example again. It released app for both Android and iOS which can sync all notes and highlights. There is one thing to I noticed. When I installed app on my Android phone, I could only download books, not syncing notes instantly. At first, I thought it was a system issue, but everything worked fine in the next day. I guess it caused because system couldn’t transfer bulk data soon.

Although E-Readers are greats gadgets, limited with the hardware performance, it’s sometimes stuck when you check notes or turn pages frequently. Consequently, I prefer to check my notes on cell phone when writing book reviews.

5) No Pain To Move

If you buy books often, it is really normal to have tens, even over hundred books on your bookshelf. However, it also means infinite pains when you are trying to move to a new house.

6) Eliminate Information Gap

If you are an ambitious learner, I believe you must resonate with this point.

In some countries, like Taiwan where I live, it is said there is a knowledge gap around ten years between advanced countries. At first, I don’t believe it. I trust there is a knowledge gap, but not so large. Ten years is equal to the difference between graduates from university and elementary school. No kidding !

不信邪如你，這時可能會點開網路書店，挑一本中文翻譯書，像博客來暢銷的《深度學習力：學歷貶值時代，MIT博士教你從大學就脫穎而出的75個成功法則》，差了13年；《先問，為什麼？：顛覆慣性思考的黃金圈理論，啟動你的感召領導力》則差了8年。即使是更新快速的資訊類書籍，中英文版之間落差五年也是常有的事。

Besides, if you want to buy figurative language books in your country, it may be not in stock and cost higher. If you buy on Amazon, the shipment fee may be expensive than price of books, and it will take a long time to deliver, even until you have forgotten it. In that case, E-Reader is a perfect solution.

舉另一個例子，像是丹布朗的新書《起源》，我在2018年初注意到這本書的時候，還沒有繁體中文譯本，但原文版《Origin》在2017年就已經上市，所以我買了原文版，看完的時候大約是2018年5月，中文版剛好也才上市。

7) Books Are Cheaper

根據我目前所見，會便宜一點，但價差不會太多，出版社應該也很怕實體書的銷量崩盤。
以《刻意練習》這本書來說，博客來的實體書是79折253元，電子書是197元；TAAZE讀冊生活的實體書是79折253元，電子書是7折224元；Kobo上的電子書也是224元。

博客來

TAAZE讀冊生活

Kobo

雖然沒有相關數據能夠證實，但我們可以合理推測，電子書與實體書通路相比，書的成本一定低廉許多，因為電子書賣的只是數位檔案的使用權，沒有紙張材料費，沒有運費，沒有庫存費。

這些很重要嗎？當然，因為它代表電子書通路有很大的利潤空間可以拿來作促銷活動，一樣以我所用的Kobo為例。

首先，大家可以看一下Kobo的粉絲專頁，上面有很多的貼文都是促銷活動，包含新書促銷、假日促銷、特殊節日促銷，快閃活動8折、6折、5折，或是會員點數3倍送、5倍送、10倍送。
如果你和我一樣是在願望清單中存了一大堆書的人，在促銷的時候下單，通常可以省下不少錢，但也可能不小心手滑多花了不少錢。

這邊要提醒一點，Kobo發佈在粉專上的折扣碼，要在結帳手動輸入才享有折扣喔。下圖是2019年2月1日的一日快閃5折活動。

這是我在快閃5折當天下單的結帳畫面，總共買了三本書，原價477元，折扣後238元。

結果在2/12時又推出一波52折活動，而且小編還加上最後一句話慫恿。

8) Borrow Books From Rakuten Overview Library

如果便宜的書已經讓你心動，免費借書功能應該會讓你立馬下單。
現在許多公共圖書館與大專院校圖書館都在推電子書借閱服務，其中包括適用於閱讀器的電子書。Kobo則是透過Rakuten Overview借閱圖書館的書籍，聽網友說目前只能連到台北市的圖書館，而且書籍以英文為主。

必須注意一點，如果你的閱讀器型號較舊，即使將軟體更新到最新版本也沒辦法使用此功能。官方說明如下：

透過Kobo Forma、Aura ONE、Aura H2O Edition 2、Aura Edition 2或 Clara HD，你可以借閱電子書並直接在裝置上閱讀。與舊型的Kobo閱讀器及其他品牌讀器相比，上述閱讀器的運作方式並不相同。

With a Kobo Forma, Aura ONE, Aura H2O Edition 2, Aura Edition 2, or Clara HD, you can borrow and read ebooks directly on the device. These ereaders work differently than older Kobo devices or ereaders from other manufacturers. 

OverDrive Help

9) Dictionary Feature

Kobo內建有字典功能，對於想練英文的人來說非常實用。

10) Reading Records

以Kobo閱讀器來說，在閱讀完每一本書後，末頁會有相關的閱讀數據。雖然我發現閱讀時間的部份好像不太準，但這個功能還是滿有趣的，可以評估自己看書的時間，對於某些只要大致翻過即可的書，在閱讀後也可以以此作為檢視標準。

另外，這個功能目前有個小缺點，當同一本書閱讀第二次時，原本的閱讀記錄就會被洗掉，算是待功善的功能之一。

另外，Kobo也在執行所謂的遊戲化，像是讀完第一本書，作了第一個筆記，或是讀完某作者的五本書，都對得到相對應的勳章。

這個勳章代表我在晚上10:00-12:00點間閱讀超過五次。

11) New Audiobook Feature

在Kobo的網站上有一個分類是有聲書，Amazon旗下也有一個有聲書平台Audible，這樣的佈局似乎十分明顯，有聲書與電子書的整合會是未來的趨勢之一。

Cons

1) E-Reader Are Not Cheap

入門款閱讀器的售價至少也要NT5000-6000，進階款或是旗艦款可能將近萬元，對於使用頻率不高的民眾來說，要入手還是有點難度，或是可以找找福利品或二手機。

2) Some Books Are Fixed-Layout

我在前面提到，電子書的優勢之一是可以調整排版，但並不是全部的電子書都可以，像一些比較舊或是圖片較多的書，它就只是個固定排版的PDF，不能搜尋、不能畫線、不能作筆記、不能調整排版。尤其當你的閱讀器尺寸不大時，看固定排版的書超級痛苦，我自己就有幾本買錯的書，後來再也沒有打開過。因此，強烈建議在購買前先預覽書籍，確定是堂堂正正的電子書，避免慘劇發生。

3) Incomplete Features

有些顯而易見的功能不齊全，像是繁體中文界面，這對許多人來說可能難以接受。
Kobo官方消息表示會在2019年Q1釋出繁體中文界面，大家拭目以待吧。
樂天 Kobo 電子書閱讀器 Forma 開放預購，繁中介面 2019 Q1 上線

4) Is There A Colorful Version ?

這也是許多人在購買前會問的問題，很遺憾，到目前為止彩色電子墨只應用在廣告看板上，距離應用在電子書閱讀器上還有一段距離。〈Colored E Ink is now shipping, but it still has a long way before it hits e-readers〉

5) You Can Read E-book Rather Than Have IT

在理想狀況下，如果我們能一輩子保有使用權，這和擁有權並無分別。然而，關於擁有權的風險確實存在。2019年4月，軟體宣佈結束電子書業務，所有人的電子書在一夜之間消失，連筆記都不見了。〈微軟結束電子書業務，將退還曾於Microsoft Store購買電子書的所有款項〉。

6) Reduce Efficiency of Memorization

許多人記憶書本內容的方式可能是這樣子：頁數應該是全書接近一半的地方，在右頁的上半部提到了某個概念，下面還有一張對應的圖表。這個方式是有利於大腦記憶的，因為大腦會把這個知識概念與上述物理屬性連結，加深印象。

然而，在電子書中，上面的幾個物理性質都被打破了。

第一、電子書中還是看得到頁數，但它就只是個數字，我們沒辦法描述看完200頁時，左手和右手的手感差別。

第二、可調式排版在這裡產生了負面作用。因為版面可調，加上電子書沒有左右頁之分，造成「右頁的上半部」這種概念不再存在。

7) We Need A New Way To Speed-Read

對大量閱讀者來說，對於速讀的需求幾乎是自然而然的，這裡指的速讀流程為：閱讀目錄 > 快速略讀 > 精讀。然而，電子書畢竟不像紙本書，在翻頁上的手感不太一樣，以致於在略讀時會有一種陌生感。

好吧，或許這一點對你來說根本不是問題，有問題的是我。

FAQ

Q. 但這樣就不能賣二手書了欸？
A. 很可惜，是的。
但我認為這是一體兩面的問題，如果你轉賣二手書，你的筆記也就不見啦，所以就看你覺得轉賣比較重要，還是留著筆記比較重要。

2019/3/28 補充：這在未來可能是有解的，〈Sony提出可讓使用者交易或轉贈數位化商品相關專利〉。

Q. 如果哪天電子書廠商的機房燒了，我的東西是不是都不見了？超級不安全！
A. 如果你把大疊大疊的筆記堆在家裡，如果家裡失火，你的東西是不是也都不見了？你覺得廠商和你家，哪個失火的機會大？而且對這些有機房的業者來說，有個東西叫作異地備份。用人話說，你的閱讀資料可能在台北的機房存了一份，在美國又存了另外一份，我相信正常情況下不會兩處同時大爆炸。

我快被推坑了，但哪一個坑比較好？

如果你開始考慮購買電子書閱讀器，有哪些品牌、哪些書源、哪些選擇？
可以參考另一篇文，〈電子書閱讀器怎麼選？先釐清需求，再找推薦文〉。

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電子書閱讀器怎麼選？先釐清需求，再找推薦文