MobileRead Forums - View Single Post - Covers Redux, or: You Don’t Really Need One

issybird · 05-14-2022, 02:10 PM

The following article showed up in my feed and it did make me snicker a little:

8 Reasons You Don’t Need a Case-Cover for Your E-Reader

Some of it’s flat-out wrong (there are plenty of aftermarket Kobo covers), some of it’s debatable, but some points seemed unassailably right to me.

Among the last, ereader covers are ridiculously expensive. It’s against my religion to spend more than $10 on a cover; however, if you wait and watch and aren’t too picky, it can be achieved. The prices on OEM covers are extortionate, a ridiculously high percentage of the price of the device itself.

I also think the author is probably right that the danger of droppage is inflated. I’d probably say that the reader is more at risk from having something dropped onto it, but a cover does protect from that also.

I certainly think it’s true that the cover just adds weight while reading and I’d be happier without it, but it’s too much work to be constantly popping the reader into and out of the cover. So if it doesn’t serve a real purpose, why bother?

Most interesting to me is the idea that covers were intended to mimic the experience of reading paper and why? I do think there’s something in that. I think that was one reason for the popularity of Noreve covers, as one example. Hugely expensive, heavy enough to offset an inherent advantage of ereaders, and as also mentioned, entirely not fungible when someone upgraded, they were intended to invoke that sense of luxury book editions and not the straphanger who’s killing a commute. Are people over them by now?

Anyway. My ereaders all have covers and I’ll continue to buy them for out-and-about readers, just because it’s easier than dealing with a sleeve (subject, of course, to my $10 limit). But for an in-house reader? I think I’m done.

05-14-2022, 02:10 PM	#1
issybird o saeclum infacetum Posts: 21,336 Karma: 234636059 Join Date: Oct 2010 Location: New England Device: Mini, H2O, Glo HD, Aura One, PW4, PW5	Covers Redux, or: You Don’t Really Need One The following article showed up in my feed and it did make me snicker a little: 8 Reasons You Don’t Need a Case-Cover for Your E-Reader Some of it’s flat-out wrong (there are plenty of aftermarket Kobo covers), some of it’s debatable, but some points seemed unassailably right to me. Among the last, ereader covers are ridiculously expensive. It’s against my religion to spend more than $10 on a cover; however, if you wait and watch and aren’t too picky, it can be achieved. The prices on OEM covers are extortionate, a ridiculously high percentage of the price of the device itself. I also think the author is probably right that the danger of droppage is inflated. I’d probably say that the reader is more at risk from having something dropped onto it, but a cover does protect from that also. I certainly think it’s true that the cover just adds weight while reading and I’d be happier without it, but it’s too much work to be constantly popping the reader into and out of the cover. So if it doesn’t serve a real purpose, why bother? Most interesting to me is the idea that covers were intended to mimic the experience of reading paper and why? I do think there’s something in that. I think that was one reason for the popularity of Noreve covers, as one example. Hugely expensive, heavy enough to offset an inherent advantage of ereaders, and as also mentioned, entirely not fungible when someone upgraded, they were intended to invoke that sense of luxury book editions and not the straphanger who’s killing a commute. Are people over them by now? Anyway. My ereaders all have covers and I’ll continue to buy them for out-and-about readers, just because it’s easier than dealing with a sleeve (subject, of course, to my $10 limit). But for an in-house reader? I think I’m done. Last edited by issybird; 05-14-2022 at 02:13 PM.