An e-book reader is an electronic device, which allows you to read books and other text documents on screen, instead of using paper or printed books. They are also known by several other names, including:

e-book readers
e-book devices
eBook reading devices
eReaders
e-readers
eReading devices

So that we can’t be accused of favouritism, we will interchange the name we use when talking about e-readers throughout our website, but they are all recognised terms for the same thing.

A brief history of e-book readers
Although they’ve been around for several years, ebooks and e-book readers became much more popular in the early 1990s, because the internet made it much easier to transfer files and documents in a variety of formats. However, the majority of these books and documents were usually read on computers, rather than on specialised, portable reading devices, like the e-book readers which are available today.

Over the last few years, manufacturers, such as Amazon, Apple, Barnes and Noble, Iriver and Sony have developed their own models of eReaders. These have now become widely available for sale and offer many advantages over printed books.

What are the benefits of e-book readers?
With such a wide variety of e-book readers on the market, it’s difficult to identify and discuss the benefits of individual models, without going into great detail – we will use our in-depth guide to eReaders and our individual reviews sections for this.

However, generally speaking, e-book readers have many advantages, including:

• Considered environmentally friendly as they reduce the amount of paper and ink used in producing books.
• Size and weight make them extremely lightweight and portable.
• Convenient way to store a large number of books and carry them around so you have them on hand
• Great for travelling and holidays, as you can take as many books as you want, without worrying about exceeding your baggage allowance
• Quick and simple method of purchasing and reading books, so books are available 24/7, even when stores are closed.

Furthermore, some eReaders also include additional features to make your reading experience even more pleasant, including:

• Colour screens (although this is currently limited to only a few models).
• Audio output, so you can listen to music whilst you read.
• The ability to change the size of text and even the text font which may help those with some loss of vision.
• The option to have your books read aloud to you, which can be especially useful if you want to rest your eyes, or sometimes struggle with your vision.
• Notes and bookmarking facilities, so you can mark pages which you want to check or re-read at a later date.
• Built-in dictionary so you can look up words, without interrupting the flow of your reading.
• Translation facility, so books can be translated to the language you choose.

If you are thinking of buying an e-book reader, take a look at our in-depth reviews, including the Amazon Kindle review.

We will continue to add to these detailed guides as new models become available.