Comment Having an eReader can get expensive... (Score 1) 415
Disclaimer: I was the sort of kid that brought home two bags full of books from the library each week. I've always read a lot.
I bought a Kindle Keyboard as soon as they were available for the simple reason that a small apartment can only hold that many bookshelves chock full of small paperbacks. Last year I read over a 100 books on it, which rather surprised me as I haven't read that many paper books a year since before high school. The reason is that the kindle is so light and convenient that I now can read anywhere: waiting in line, while shopping, while walking, while in the tub (plastic ziplock baggie!), while on the bus, while on the plane, while whenever really.
I didn't buy all those books from Amazon. I've read ebooks from Baen since the late nineties, and there's Smashwords, Gutenberg, Mobileread, authors selling directly, and author coops like Bookview Cafe. With Calibre, it doesn't really matter where you get the books from. Unfortunately, since I would like a steady supply of books from well-nourished, creative authors, I do pay for my books. Even at an average of 5 dollars a pop, it adds up, especially when you've run out of your favorite authors and desperately need more to read and therefore start buying anything with a half way decent blurb and not too fawning reviews in hope of finding a new favorite author.
There are rumors going around that new Kindles will be announced in time for Christmas this year. I might just get one. Eink, mind, and it really needs the paging-buttons on the sides as that makes one-handed reading with any hand in any situation possible. With wifi off I only need to charge it every three weeks or so (unless I'm caught by a fat, impossible-to-take-a-break-from page turner, then I read with the power cable plugged in...). I was opposed to touch but now that I have a phone with touch I can see it would be nice for moving about menus. Not for the actual paging though.
I would also say, definitely eink if you're serious about reading. I've read books on VT220s, big CRTs, Sharp Zaurus, DS (homebrew), android, print outs, iPad (borrowed), projectors, glossy magazine paper, grey mass market paperback paper, extra cheap self-destructing school book paper, expensive non-acidic archive quality hardcover paper, yellowed copy paper, newspaper, toilet paper (I hope it was a gimmick), the lot: eink (pearl) beats them all. Much better in sunlight than paper since the background isn't bright white.
If you do get a tablet, read with the colors reversed: white on black. You won't feel like you've stared into the sun for hours after just.. one.. more.. page.. hey, is that the sunrise?
