I’m an Avid Reader, but I Don’t Get the Appeal of E-Books. What Am I Missing?

Most people prefer the printed page. But the digital equivalent provides appealing, bookworm-worthy features

Edward C. Baig,

AARP

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Published December 16, 2025

hands coming out of an e-reader and book and embracing in a handshake

AARP (Getty Images, 4)

AARP members and readers are invited to submit pressing technology questions they’d like me to tackle in my Tech Guru column, including issues around devices, security, social media and how all the puzzle pieces fit together. During the holiday season, many people give or receive an e-book reader as a gift, or, if folks already have a reader, e-book titles to read on these devices. Not everyone has bought in, however, and thus this week I’m fielding a question about the potential benefits of owning an e-book reader versus a good old-fashioned printed book.

I love to read but have resisted buying an e-book reader. I keep coming back to a basic question: ‘What is wrong with regular books? Please make the case for why I should even think about buying e-books.'

There’s obviously nothing wrong with reading on paper, as people have been doing for centuries. For many of us, nothing truly matches the tangible look and feel of a physical book.

Setting that aside, the E Ink display technology inside the most popular electronic readers comes close to replicating the printed page, or at least as close as any digital technology makes possible. I, for one, find reading on an e-reader an acceptable alternative to books, and it is certainly easier on the eyes than reading on a computer, smartphone or tablet.

Plus, in my experience, it doesn’t take long to get the hang of tapping or swiping to move to the next page on common touchscreen models; some e-readers even have dedicated page-turning buttons. Either way, you won’t generally experience a lag in flipping pages. The latest and most expensive readers tend to have faster page turns.

That said, turning pages still feels more natural on an actual book.

Of course, readers want to immerse themselves in whatever fiction or nonfiction work they happen to be consuming, without pausing to think about the platform on which they are reading. Talk about killing a mood.

It’s been nearly 20 years since Amazon took the wrappings off its first Kindle and established a robust market for the entire e-reader category. Other e-readers predated the Kindle, but none caught on nearly as big.

Ask the Tech Guru

Nearly 1 in 5 adults over 65 had read an e-book, according to a 2021 Statista study, and nearly 3 in 10 between the ages of 50 and 64.

A more recent Statista survey found that 14 percent of Americans between 50 and 64 owned an e-reader as of September 2024, compared to 17 percent of people between 30 and 49 and 11 percent of 18- to 29-year-olds.

Numerous Kindle models followed the original over the years, with different sizes and capabilities, including waterproof and color-screen versions as well as models that allow you to jot notes with a digital stylus. Kindles still claim the dominant market share, while rival e-readers include Barnes & Noble Nooks, Rakuten Kobos, and Onyx Boox.

Advantages of E-Readers

Returning to the heart of your question: Why might you want to read on one of these devices instead of a regular book?

Carry a boatload of titles. For starters, avid readers can schlep a full digital library of e-book titles, literally thousands, on slates that, with few exceptions, are no bigger or heavier than a paperback or hardcover. That’s certainly a boon to frequent travelers. If you’re reading more than a single tome at a time, you don’t have to fret about which extra one or two to bring with you on a trip.

Read in the dark. Even entry-level models nowadays have adjustable front-lit displays that enable you to read in the dark without having to turn on a lamp, which might disturb a sleeping partner.

You can also make out the screens on sunny beaches, typically without glare, which, as I mentioned, is an advantage compared to reading on a smartphone or computer.

Of course, older models that lack built-in illumination require you to turn on a light, just like a regular book.

Listen to books. Many e-readers can also play audiobooks, usually via a Bluetooth connection to wireless headphones.

Save money on the books themselves. By eliminating printing, binding and shipping costs, e-books are often less expensive than their physical counterparts, and sometimes free. You can borrow e-books from your local library via apps and services such as Libby and OverDrive.

Whether you buy or borrow e-books, you can fetch them online in a couple of minutes or less, depending on the size of the file and your internet connection. And with millions of available titles, the catalog is much larger than anything you’d find in a brick-and-mortar bookstore.

Leave bookmarks. You can pick up where you left off when reading an e-book and leave bookmarks and highlight passages throughout.

Change fonts and text size. Obviously, this is not something you can do with a regular book. If your vision isn’t what it used to be and you have trouble making out smaller print, you can enlarge the words on the screen and alter the fonts. Some fonts are even designed to help dyslexic readers.

Built-in dictionaries. If you don’t know what a word means, you can highlight it and look up its definition right within the book. Synonyms and Wikipedia entries are also available, as is the ability to translate words into other languages.

Dive into characters and more. A longtime Kindle feature called X-Ray lets you explore plot points, characters, locations and other details about a book you are reading, though it’s not available on all titles. It can help you remember things you’ve forgotten already. If you click on a character’s name, for example, you can get a synopsis of who it is and be directed to previous passages in the book that reference that person.

Disadvantages of E-Readers

You never have to charge a regular book. It’d be a bummer if you suddenly couldn’t read a book because you ran out of power, something you don’t have to fret about with a paperback. However, most e-readers boast exceptional battery life: several weeks, if not months, off a single charge. Finding an outlet is rarely a concern, unlike with your computer or phone.

You may have to tolerate ads. Some Kindles subsidize the cost of the device by serving up ads, or what Amazon refers to as “special offers,” on the lock screen. You can remove such ads or sponsored screensavers by paying more up front, or removing them later for around $20.

Bonus tip: Tell friends your call is urgent

Google is rolling out a Call Reason feature in the Phone by Google app that will let you mark calls to saved contacts as urgent. The feature, which is still in beta testing, will display a time-sensitive urgent call indicator on the recipient’s call screen. This note will remain in the person’s call history should they miss the initial message. You’ll see the option to designate a call as urgent when you dial out to a contact. You and the caller will both need to be on Android.

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Edward C. Baig covers technology and other consumer topics. He previously worked for USA Today, BusinessWeek, U.S. News & World Report and Fortune, and is author of Macs for Dummies and coauthor of iPhone for Dummies and iPad for Dummies. Follow him on LinkedIn; Threads; and X, formerly known as Twitter.