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Old 04-11-2011, 06:05 AM   #6
rhadin
Literacy = Understanding
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Posts: 4,833
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Join Date: Dec 2007
Location: The World of Books
Device: Nook, Nook Tablet
After all the comments over the years on this forum regarding the "necessity" of WiFi and/or 3G, and in reviews that focused on the inclusion/absence of WiFi/3G as being the deal breaker, I opted to buy the Sony 950 that comes with WiFi/3G. I also own a Sony 505, which lacks the WiFi/3G, and used it for 3 years before giving it to my wife when I bought the 950 last October.

My experience has been that the WiFi/3G is vastly overrated as a "necessary" feature. I almost think it was and is classified as necessary simply because it exists and some devices had it whereas others didn't.

Since receiving my 950, I have used the wireless connection maybe 6 times. Of those uses, only 2 would be in the "required" category to my way of thinking -- the 2 times I was away from home and wanted to purchase that day's New York Times. Over the 3.5 years that I have had a dedicated ebook device, most of my purchases have been from Baen, Smashwords, and Fictionwise -- all places that required sideloading; having wireless made no difference whatsoever.

Also over that period of time, I have bought 107 ebooks directly from the Sony eBookstore, 13 of which I have bought since receiving my 950 with wireless capabilities. What I discovered was that having the wireless capability made it easier to add the books to my 950, but not so much easier that not having wireless capability in the future would be a deal breaker. During that same period when I bought the 13 ebooks that I could obtain wirelessly, I also bought 150+ ebooks from other sources for which the wireless was useless and sideloading required.

Like feenix163, I keep a library of ebooks on my 950 -- about 250 currently -- so I have plenty to read and not having wireless access is neither here nor there.

The only way I can currently see that wireless would be a deal breaker would be if the wireless allowed me to directly purchase and download ebooks from any ebookstore. But with access limited, I do not see wireless as a deal breaker or deal maker -- it just is or isn't.
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