The popularity of e-books is growing, as is the ownership of tablets and e-readers, but few readers have completely replaced print books by electronic versions.

A study for the Pew Internet & American Life Project finds that the percentage of adults who read an e-book in the past year has risen to 28%, up from 23% at the end of 2012.

It also revealed that 69% of respondents reported reading a book in print, up four percentage points to close to 2011 levels after a slight dip in 2012.

The research was conducted earlier this month by Princeton Survey Research Associates International and relied on telephone interviews with 1005 adults living in the continental United States.

The same survey looked into tablet and e-reader ownership to reveal that half of American adults now own either of these devices (many of them both types) and that tablets are now more popular than dedicated e-readers.

The survey discovered a big jump in the use of tablets for reading e-books since the corresponding 2011 survey when tablets were relatively uncommon compared to other devices. There was a moderate increase in the use of e-readers and a decline for  desktop computers. The use of Cell phones for reading e-books only increased a little - but enough to overtake the use of computers for this purpose.

It is only logic that as time passes the old technology of printing on dead trees should lose out to modern ebook technology. However, when you compare the use cases it still seems that the old ways have the edge. E-readers and tablets still haven't evolved far enough to provide the quality and versatility of print.

You want wide lines to show code - paper is likely to be better.

You want to read outside in full color - paper is likely to be better.

You want to read it and then hand it on to a friend - paper is ideal.

You want to read it sitting in a leather chair, with a glass of something, surrounded by the finer things in life then...