It began by accident really. I bought a Compaq iPAQ in 2000, mostly because the idea of portable internet access was intriguing -- slow, clunky access via added sleeves, cards, wires, etc. notwithstanding.
The iPAQ came with coupons to download a few free MSLit books. I downloaded them and forgot about them. Some months later I was on a plane with my usual supply of printed reading material and it turned out that the overhead light at my seat didn't work. I played a few games on the iPAQ and then out of desperation I opened one of the ebooks.
About ten minutes later I was hooked. No matter that at the time only a small percentage of what I wanted to read was even available in digital form, and mostly at a noticeably higher cost than the printed versions. By the time our libraries were transferred from Peanut Press/ereader/fictionwise to B & N we had about a thousand books, not including a hundred or so from other sources (I'd convinced my husband to try ebooks by then too).
It seems silly now but until about that time I’d never even thought about the possibility of losing access to my ebooks. If I hadn’t discovered Calibre and Alf I think I might have tried to kick the ebook habit, despite the fact that by then I’d also come to appreciate the space-saving and font-size adjustment features of ebooks.
It’s funny but as much as I value my smartphone, laptop, tablets, and ereaders, none of them have had quite the thrill of the discovery of Pocket PCs. Those things seemed like minor miracles to me – internet access, tts GPS navigation with Mapopolis, ebooks, movies, music, games, etc. all in one tiny device. I think I bought at least half a dozen iPAQ models (along with cases from Vaja, Inooch, and Pielframa) and I loved them all.
Sorry about my ramble down memory lane here.
