For any of you out there that have eReaders or have friends/family that have them, I have a different twist on the question of eReaders. I've already decided that if I get one it will be a Kindle. But where I struggle is do I need one? You can store hundreds of books on them. I read one book at a time and once I am done with a book I very rarely ever read it again. I don't travel a lot or really need to be able to download a new book at a moment's notice. I don't have a need for a lot of reference books or anything that I would do research in. I suppose over the long haul it will save me space in storing the books I've read and will be cheaper to boot. I'm a geek. I love tech gadgets. I like the idea of an eReader. But when it comes down to it, I haven't been able to make a logical argument to convince myself to get one. Any arguments I may have overlooked?
If you're honestly struggling to find a reason to buy one then don't bother. Think of how many books you could buy with the money you'd spend on the Kindle. I personally am not a fan of digital media, only Steam gets my approval. As a result I still buy CDs, DVDs and physical books. I considered an e-reader briefly and about the only reason I would ever regularly use it is if I travelled by air/train an awful lot (which I don't) so I quickly dismissed the idea. If you don't want to buy books, buy some PC hardware
The main reason I went for an ereader was to save space, I've run out of shelves for all the books I've got, the ereader stops the wife from threatening me with a shoe if I keep buying more. but currently not all books are available for them, and although a lot of new releases are getting released a lot of the back catalogue of the same authors isn't getting released quickly.
I keep thinking it would be nice to have one for reading long .pdfs without having to sit in front of the computer. Not yet a good enough reason though
I'm in the same boat as you. I want one. I really want one. But I, like you, just don't read enough or travel enough to make it worthwhile.
There are plenty of eReader apps other than Kindle, Mobipocket for instance which supports Windows PC, Windows Smartphone & PDA, Symbian, Blackberry, Palm and a few others too. There are homebrew eReader apps for NDS & PSP too.
I'd been toying with the idea of getting one over the last year as a pressie for my 15 year old daughter. She reads 1 or 2 books a week and was costing me a fortune as well as storage was becoming a problem. I finally bought a Kindle 3 for her birthday a couple of weeks ago and she absolutely loves it. I'm also really impressed with it. The pearl e-ink is excellent and downloading books a cinch. There are also loads of classics available for free. She's downloaded enough of these to keep her happy for the next 3 months!! Anyway, as far as storage goes it solves the problem - plus she re-reads books frequently. She says that she didn't think she'd like it as much as she does, but its really easy and comfortable to use. Might even get one for myself.
In terms of need you probably don't. But then you don't need half the crap most people buy anyway. However, if you want it then I'd say go ahead. I got one for Christmas and it's quite frankly awesome. Of course I still have real books, but it's awesome seeing a book you want to read and then having it literally a minute later. The quality of the screen is amazing too. It's very useful travelling (I recently went through two books on holiday, then wanted to read one of the sequels and just downloaded it and cracked on). But it's also nice just to have around the house. Having tons of books uses up a lot of storage space and it's portable enough to use comfortably in the bath or whilst dropping the chaps off at the pool. For £111, you could be spending your money on a ton of other things that won't give you as much pleasure and enjoyment using.
never try and justify the purhcase of an ereader by price as its an exercise in fail. It's annoying when the kindle version is more expensive than the printed book. I love mine though and I find I make a lot more impulse purchases of books than I did before. Storage of books was a problem for me as my current house is just too damn small.
Yep, I found that as well. Some people have said "Ahh but there's nothing like the real thing" but I never got that - you're still just buying a consumable product that you're unlikely to use more than once (unless it's really good). I guess some people like collecting them and displaying them as a kind of "Behold! Look at how many books I have read - are you not humbled?". Don't forget, whilst some eBooks are expensive, some are cheaper and some of the free ones are still sold in bookshops at quite a price (Sherlock Holmes, the classics, etc.).
If you hardly read then there's no point, because it wouldnt make up the cost, as you have to buy the digital format of the book you want to read in addition to the kindle (if your law abiding lol), and not all books are in ebook format. I used to love reading when i was a kid, last few years have not read at all. I bought a kindle and am back to reading again, also since I like manga, I can read manga scanlations on it also
I for one actually read more with an ereader. I discovered that I dont like to haul around thick books, or books really at all. It also apealed to the geek side of me to carry around a small library and impress the ladies.. Kindles are overated imo, get something useful like a Sony reader that you wont have to charge for 2-4 weeks. I have a biased opinion of sony readers...
Why not borrow books rather than buy all the time? Especially if you only read them once. I far prefer the thought of reading a proper book than a digital copy, I mean, it's really no hassle to carry a book or two around with you.
Oh, this? This is just some blog where some guy did a sort of take on the Kindle 3 that is worth reading and totally not a plug. :3 Be proud of me, Will.
I did get a kindle 3 for my birthday. I had it jailbroke (jailbroken...jailbreaked...whatever) within the first week. I do like it and I find myself constantly wanting to pick it up and read. Maybe that's just the newness of it but we'll see. Battery life has been terrific so far. Like others have said, wi-fi stays off unless I'm downloading a book. One complaint that I do have is that its not great for reading graphic novels, at least not the ones that I have tried (The Walking Dead). They convert very well with calibre and look great but the dialogue is often too small to read...and yeah maybe I'm getting old. You can select the page and zoom it full screen which is better, but when you go to the next page it is zoomed out again. So it's slow reading. If I could find a better way to convert those I would completely satisfied with it. But so far it seems like everyone has the same complaint.
I got myself a kindle just before christmas. I was looking at my stack of reference books and adding up the cost, very quickly getting up to £200 or so, I had a look on the kindle store and noted the slightly cheaper prices and worked out the saving would pay for a kindle, and as I'm sure I'll be buying lots more books it should even out nicely. Best bit being no more stacks of books to find somewhere to put. Of course quite a few books cost more on the kindle store, but same goes with most stores...
