Mal ,'Our Mrs. Reynolds'
There's more to life than watching Buffy the Vampire Slayer! No. Really, there is! Honestly! Here's a place for Buffistas to come and discuss what it is they're reading, their favorite authors and poets. "Geez. Crack a book sometime."
a book is already a separate "device," so you're not adding, you're replacing.
Or even condensing, if (like me) you tend to read several books at once, and you like to carry all of them with you when you go somewhere. I expect it to be particularly useful on vacation, where I can carry half a dozen books or one device the sixe of a 300-page or so trade paperback.
The most appealing thing about an e-reader to me is the ability to wirelessly buy books with it, so if you're traveling and you run out of books, you can just buy more!
if you're traveling and you run out of books, you can just buy more!
I don't travel domestically enough for that to appeal to me. You can't even do iTunes in Jamaica. I'd be surprised if I could buy Kindle books.
At least with individual books there's no DRM and resale issue. I don't currently keep most of the books I read unless they're gifts--I keep the reference and coffee table tomes, as well as favourite series, preferably in hardcover.
An ereader could change that, because there's no storage impact. For me it's not even about portability. I don't really have space at home.
I use eReader on my itouch and it is fine. I like that it flips to vertical or horizontal and the flipping part is fun. You can change the font and screen colors to suit your eyes and...well, it's awesome.
My sister's getting a Kindle for Xmas, and she want's gift certificates so she can buy books for it. Easy Xmas present.
One of the cool things about the Nook is that, if you're already in a B&N store, you can sample all of their ebooks for free before buying one.
if you're already in a B&N store, you can sample all of their ebooks for free
Does that also mean you can park your ass in the coffee store and read to your heart's content without having to mess with physical inventory? I mean, can you sample the whole thing?
Yep!
ETA: magazines and newspapers, too, at least those that are available for download, which isn't too many right now, but they are adding more all the time.
That whole thing where Amazon wiped copies of 1984 off the Kindle pushed back my longing for an eReader in a big way. If I buy a book, I should damn well get to keep it. And if the publisher has problems with the original copyright holder, they can work it out between themselves without getting into my library. Ugh.
I wonder if the success of the eBook is going to be tied to a dedicated physical platform.
I think there needs to be an affordable device that is comfortable to read for a long time. Basically, I think you need something that would be good enough that you'd consider reading on the device rather than the printed book if given the choice.
More B&N stores are getting a sample Nook to look at (my store didn't have theirs yet as of last Saturday, but I hope they have it by now), if you want to check it out.