Given a choice between lugging around an armload of heavy and bulky books or just carrying around a thin, light iPad, it's easy to see how the iPad can make reading ebooks so appealing. If you're a student, you could take notes in a paper notebook and then carry those pieces of paper around whenever you need to study (and hope you don't lose your pieces of paper). Or you could convert your notes into an EPUB file and create your own ebook of class notes. Now when you want to study multiple subjects, you just need to take your iPad with you.

Businesspeople can convert their files to EPUB format and view them through the iBooks app on their iPad or just email PDF and Microsoft Word documents to themselves so they can open and read them on the iPad.

The true value of the iPad is its ability to load a virtually unlimited number of ebooks inside a single device that's easy to carry and read. If you already have the Amazon Kindle ebook reader, download Amazon's Kindle app (for free) on your iPad. Now you can download any ebooks you've already purchased for the Kindle and read them on your iPad.

After reading an ebook on the iPad, reading paper books will suddenly seem quaint. An iPad may never replace the feel of finely crafted book, but its versatility means you'll never risk running out of reading material ever again—unless, of course, you forget to transfer enough ebooks to your iPad.