From Guest Blogger Izabela: Environmentally, Why It's Time to Make a Switch to E-Reading

E-reading is gradually becoming more popular in today’s society, with some reading enthusiasts preferring an e-book reader to their conventional book collection. E-reading is much more environmentally friendly, with many other benefits too, and it is because of this that e-reading is more prevalent than ever before.

What is e-reading?

E-reading is an alternative way of reading your book collection. The traditional way of reading has always been to choose a book, just the one, taking it everywhere with you and reading it any time you get chance, potentially causing the book to become damaged. E-reading is using an e-book reader in replacement of your books, downloading your book collection electronically and having a selection of books with you wherever you go, thus getting rid of paper books and the production of these completely.

What are the benefits of e-reading?

There are many benefits to e-reading over conventional reading, here are just a few:

E-reading reduces the need for paper books, which in turn helps the environment. With fewer paper books being produced and manufactured, fewer trees need to be cut down. Furthermore, e-reading devices are notorious for being cheap to run, with long lasting batteries which saves energy, helping to save the environment.
By using a kindle or e-book reader you increase the number of books at your disposal, instead of having just the one, you have your entire book collection to select from. So if you finish your book halfway through a long journey, no problem you can move onto the next. E-book readers have a high capacity and can hold hundreds, sometimes thousands of books.
E-book readers are lightweight and easy to transport, add a simple case and it is well-protected. This saves you the worry of your precious books being ruined in your bag during transit.
The capability to underline and add comments to your books makes annotating your books much easier than ever before, making these ideal for anyone learning or researching. You can export these notes when you have finished reading, keeping them all safe in one place.
Multi-tasking, such as reading while eating, becomes much easier with an e-book reader, something the avid reader will greatly benefit from.
There are lots of free books available to download on e-book readers, this gives you more selection and might even get you to read and enjoy something you wouldn’t have gone out of your way to buy.
Now e-book readers are more popular they are much cheaper in price, furthermore many of them come with other functionalities such as being able to receive and reply to email, listening to music and going online. Popular apps for androids and iOS systems, such as Facebook and skype, can also be downloaded and used on some e-book readers.

How do I choose the best e-book reader to buy?

Before you go out and purchase anything take some time to consider your needs think about:

What will you use your e-book reader for? Solely reading? Or would you also like to download apps and games and browse the net?
What size capacity would you need? Think about how many books you have and how many you are likely to add to your collection. Remember, if you are downloading games and apps this will require a bigger capacity model.
What is your price range? Make sure you only look at e-book readers that are within your budget.

Now you know what you need start having a look at what is available, comparing your favourites to select one that is most suited to your wants. With a shortlist of your favourites start doing some research, look for reviews from other people and get as much information from third parties as possible. See which e-reader is most energy efficient, therefore being better for the environment.