Thoughts on buying an ereader (in Australia)

[kgn]

I have just bought 2 ebook readers for the first time. It is hard in Australia as we do not have the choice that you in the USA have. I would bet than none of my friends, coworkers, acquaintances have ever seen one, and have probably never even heard of the devices. They are almost unheard of here.

I was pretty much the same - except I recently was shown a Kindle for a few seconds. I had vaguely heard of them, but never paid them much mind. For a techno junkie like me, that is unusual in itself.

Anyway, I found this forum and I finally settled on the Pocketbook 302 - but not without a LOT of research. I also bought the Officeworks Stash (it is a rebranded Pico, whatever that is) - which I am currently using.

First off - as a new user, I was really a bit doubtful that an ebook reader would be useful at all. There is just something about holding a real book in your hand that a computer screen just cannot compete with. While this is still true to some extent, reading ebooks is not as bad as I thought it would be. In fact, after the first few hours just being fascinated with the technology, you do not notice - and it becomes quite pleasant. In some ways it is better to hold than a book - it is thinner, and lighter than most books - and does not have to be held open. And I can zoom the text. I find it very pleasant.

Next thing - these things are fragile - so you do really need a cover/wallet to put them in. The cheap Stash has no such thing, and in hindsight I should have paid more attention to that. I don't know how I will ever find one either - is it such an unknown brand.

I want to take these things camping with me. One problem with the Stash is it uses a weird power socket/adaptor. Not a USB port. It uses the USB port for data transfer, but that is all. So there is no way I can charge this thing on a camping trip. It would be good if you could charge via the USB port - then I could use an external solar pack, or car charger or something. USB chargers are very common.

Anyway, just a few thoughts from a new user.