First ebook was created by Michael Hart in the year 1971 while proceeding to establish Project Gutenberg. The first eBook created by Michael Hart was downloaded by six people, the title focused on the declaration of independence. 

A past couple of years have seen an upsurge in presence of eBooks and the number of prints is decreasing though registering its presence in the reading fraternity. The youth of today prefer eBooks in digital format and prefer to read them at the same time some of us are still in love with the printed books. The authors and publishers want to explore the niche of eBooks. The eBooks offer flexibility of reading the way you like it.

Print books can be given as gifts that can be cherished for over a long period and becomes a memory for lifetime. The underlining with the colour of our choice makes it more personal. The eBooks also promote reading with different fonts and highlighting the sections for reading them later i.e. they add to the uniqueness of the eBooks. The print books smell good and establish a personal bond with the reader.

The print books have a longer life compared to that of eBooks because the regular digital upgrade over an interval time makes the older version of digital content obsolete. Hence, the life of the gadget holding the eBooks and the readability options of eBooks always are at a disadvantage due to this factor. We have seen the development of many eBook readers like Kobo, Kindle, Nook and Sony to name a few, and all these had undergone major developmental changes within a short period rendering older versions obsolete.

All book lovers take pride in showcasing their books in possession, it is like a treasure for them and they enjoy showing it to their friends and families. Sometimes we may find the bookshelves in the kitchen too. The collection of books is a hobby of many and they are always in search of new print in the market.

Readers get attached with the print books and develop an emotional bond with it. Building a library at home or sometimes at the workplace is the dream of many and that can be achieved through print books. However, due to long term storage of books at one place the quality of the book gets deteriorated and here the advantage of having books in digital format cannot be overruled.

Though it is easy to share and show the print text to the guests visiting the homes, sharing your digital gadget to allow them to explore the books that you have read has to come in vogue for acceptance. The question that arises is as to why the people tend to prefer one mode of reading over the other, this aspect can be addressed if we see the aim of the reader and his requirement of satisfying his need of reading a book. 

The answer to learning more about the preference of reading through eBooks or printed text can be related to economics as has been noticed the eBooks are less expensive compared to that of the printed ones. Readers nowadays are more exposed to media and have developed a knack of skimming through the books by turning over the sample pages provided to the readers.

The online websites selling books are hosting books in digital format and print ones for selling and thus are offering a choice to the readers to choose the books they want. Parents prefer printed books over eBooks for their kids as it does not strain their eyes and are also cost-effective over purchasing a gadget first and then going for eBooks.

We are accustomed to reading printed books over a period now and love to feel the text and the paper. Carrying of books is a difficult task and requires some or the other support if we want to carry several books at a time, whereas the eBook readers don’t require much of the carrying cost expenses as one eBook reader can accommodate thousand of books. It makes life easier when we are going out of the station.

The publishing industry also has got an opportunity to reduce the cost of editing, printing and making books available at remote places. Hence, it is confirmed that the eBooks help in cutting the cost of publication for the publishers as many processes get reduced. The e-readers also pose certain disadvantages like we keep on recharging them regularly, screen glare and visibility issues are present which restricts the reader to use it in daylight.

The digital book store provides an opportunity for the reader to download certain good titles without even paying a penny and at the coziness of home. The portability factor gives more freedom to the reader while purchasing the eBooks. The inbuilt dictionaries add to the reading and grasping speed of the reader. Access to the books of various languages also helps the reader in achieving a variety of reading the overview.

The increase in the sale of eBooks has also extended the opportunity to the authors who want limited publishing and need some cost-effective publishing by doing away with the formalities and processes involved. This is essential for them as these budding authors have less number of titles and the material that is to be published is less. The eBook can be read during the night with ease if the e-reader has a backlit option.

Nowadays the eBooks are also released along with the print one and digital launches of books are becoming a trend of the town. The companies selling the books also offer a huge discount on the eBooks to promote their widespread reading. The eBooks can be stored in a device, which makes carrying of eBooks easy that saves the precious space of the bookshelves at home and office. The cloud feature offered by some companies like Amazon provides real-time sharing possible.

Audio books are also catching the sale speed in the market that makes all the books easily accessible to visually and hearing challenged people. The environment friendliness can be enhanced by protecting the cutting of trees for producing paper, reduction in transportation cost. Adapting to new technology would create new avenues for readers. The eBooks are going to stay and print books though have a section of readers present today can avail a variety of reading experience.