I was very reluctant to buy one as well. I have always like the feeling of sitting down with a book to read. Just the feel of turning the pages, holding the covers, etc. is nice.
Here are the reasons I came up for justifying one:
With alternatives in the US$2-300 range is now down to a price that I find reasonable. I do not like the large tablets... I will be buying a Sony 600. I find the size just right for travel and use at home.
Size and weight... when I travel on business I like to take a few books to read (usuallly these are 4-10 hours flights) and the space that the books take is becoming a problem.
Using a notebook in the airplane to read is not comfortable. Having a compact and light weight alternative that can store several books, is great.
Battery life - there is no way a notebook would last the time needed to read a book. Let alone several books.
They work outdoors... try looking at a notebook screen when the sun is out or there is a lot of light around...
I am running out of space in our home-ofc/libary... being able to free up the shelve space alone is worth it.
I think it will help me read more... having the ability to keep several books at a finger click should help me read more of the business books I have as well as the leisure reading I enjoy. Downside is that I will have to buy them again but now in the electronic format...
Just having the books I already read available to browse at any time sounds like a great idea. There are moments I wish I had a book handy to read (one of the books I have already read and passed on to my sister-in-law). I guess that the negative here is that my sister-in-law is going to have to buy all her books from now on
Quote:
Originally Posted by zenmonky
warning rant
There isn't an ereader worth buying on the market unless you have a gadget fetish, which is ok. Why? First, the generic 6 inch models are useless for anything other than paperback novels. These books are common and can be read for free from the greatest thing before the internet: the library.
Second, the larger format ereaders are too much money. Ereaders must come down below the price of the cheapest laptop. How can i justify paying more for something that is essentially a specific purpose computer than I would pay for a full functional netbook with a windows or linux os? Ive seen a $100 netbook on engadget recently. Im not hard up, i just know that paying $800 for an irex only make me another person walking around with a dorky status symbol. I understand the economics of scale but they are still too expensive.
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