Physical vs Digital Books: What’s the Difference?

From the invention of block printing – which revolutionized book publishing – to the invention of the internet that brought digital content into play, our media of communication has gone through a revolution. We now live in a digital world, and our fastest-growing demographic is a digital native. Books, with a history of over 1000 years, have undergone a radical change in shape, size, format, and the way written text is consumed, all in two decades.

Physical books – or simply books – have been the primary mode of documentation of course materials since the advent of structured schooling. Bound neatly at the spine, the chronologically arranged volumes of text have allowed students for generations to enhance their knowledge and develop a critical mind. The beginning of digital technology has captured text and produced them electronically into what is now known as eBooks.

eBooks are only books, but the media of interaction is a computer. Like physical books, they too have titles, indexes, pages, and content – all in text, but served electronically. But unlike textbooks, a single eBook can be accessed virtually anywhere by anybody who has access, you don’t have to worry about losing them and they weigh nothing! But what sets eBooks apart from their physical counterparts is the decentralization of information. Since eBooks are published online, these can be edited, annotated, improved, and procured anytime from anywhere in the world with an internet connection. We will talk about this, and some other key differences between physical books and their progeny – eBooks.

1. Decentralization of information: One key difference that has been brought about by the emergence of eBooks has been the decentralization of course content. Students are not limited to a particular library or a bookshop for the availability of any books that might be critical to their completion of coursework. Unlike physical books, procurement of eBooks is not limited to location, and they never run out of supply. With remote learning gaining ground in higher education, the accessibility of eBooks has been a blessing for students logging into their lectures from all over the world.
2. Accessibility: Physical books trigger our sense of vision – and are limited to it. This limits their accessibility from those visually challenged and does not bode well towards the overall aim of making education more accessible. eBooks come with the added feature of read-aloud, wherein the computer device that is being used to access the eBook can read the text word-for-word, thereby expanding the boundaries of accessibility. Also, having multiple senses stimulated makes you feel more engrossed in the topic you are learning about, and aids recallability too. However, it must be noted that the read-aloud functionality is limited to the languages supported by the operating system unless otherwise provided by the publisher. This shows that there is still room for improvement.
3. Interactivity and Inclusivity: Unlike physical books, eBooks tend to provide the readers a host of features to go beyond just plain text. eBooks help students annotate, highlight and bookmark easily; take notes and select sections to prioritize, and even share them with their classmates. This promotes inclusivity, and the understanding is not limited to an individual’s power of grasping, but students can feed on their peers’ inputs and expand their understanding. eBooks also provide features like in-built dictionaries, links to Wikipedia and other reference journals, and quick search functions. All this comes together to form a very powerful tool for disseminating course content.
4. Cost & Convenience: eBooks are device-supported – meaning unlike physical books, they are not standalone products you buy. You need to have a device – an eBook reader or a laptop or even your handheld cellphone – to be able to read the eBooks. There comes the cost of an internet connection, which is required to access and download the eBook onto your device. From then on, you only pay for the eBook you download – the cost of which is on an average 60% less than physical books. Add to it the ease of carrying eBooks. Higher ed students, anyway, carry a laptop with them and can make use of the same device to access any number of eBooks, making them highly convenient. Also, eBooks do not have a fixed font size, further aiding accessibility as readers can increase or decrease font size depending on their needs and environment.
5. Aiding Remote Learning: Online learning has been gaining afoot among college education for quite a while now, and the pandemic has pressed its incorporation in top gear. eBooks have helped educators pivot to online learning. The updates to course content, improvements in the text, or the addendums to research materials – they have been able to convey it all to the students sitting in isolation in one go. This has ensured the quality of material that each student has access to has not suffered. Since eBooks also use the same devices on which online lectures are being delivered, college students can easily switch between the text content of their books, map it with the lecture delivered by their instructors and stay abreast of their course.