MobileRead Forums - View Single Post - What is the advantage of having more than one ereader?

macminer · 09-23-2009, 03:38 PM

I think it depends what you consider an ereader. I guess I couldn't find much use for multiple "dedicated" ereaders. One is enough for me to carry around (and remember to charge periodically!)
However, if you take into account smartphones (like iPhone) and PDAs, the answer for me would be: yes, there are some advantages. Even if reading full-length books on most smartphones and PDAs is not the best use of technology, there are also a lot of reference books which are nice to keep on your PDA or smartphone. I tend to always have my PDA with me, which is not always true for the ereader.
Moreover, for some reasons, current readers are not able to display several books at once, so if you want to read some more serious stuff, you can do it on your ereader and at the same time have an encyclopedia (or specialised dictionary) available on your PDA.
A thought has just sprang into my mind: what if you could chain your ereaders, so that two or more could interact with each other? For example, you read a book, select a word and it triggers the reference book displayed on the second ereader. Obviously, this wouldn't be so important with language dictionaries, which tend to have rather short entries, so a window inside the main book (like the Jetbook dictionaries) might be just enough. What I mean is a true "reference search", or "keylink". There is a Windows Bible study program, Logos X, which has a "keylink" technology built in: when you click on a word, it searches all your resources and finds all references to this word (or Bible passage). If such technology could be made available in the realm of ereaders, I am sure this would help people see that ereaders are not just pbook substitutes, but powerful study aids in their own right. Obviously, with such technology, one small screen is not enough.

09-23-2009, 03:38 PM	#6
macminer Connoisseur Posts: 98 Karma: 660420 Join Date: Sep 2009 Location: Poland Device: Boox Nova 3, Lenovo Tab 4 8" (formerly many others)	Depends what you consider an ereader I think it depends what you consider an ereader. I guess I couldn't find much use for multiple "dedicated" ereaders. One is enough for me to carry around (and remember to charge periodically!) However, if you take into account smartphones (like iPhone) and PDAs, the answer for me would be: yes, there are some advantages. Even if reading full-length books on most smartphones and PDAs is not the best use of technology, there are also a lot of reference books which are nice to keep on your PDA or smartphone. I tend to always have my PDA with me, which is not always true for the ereader. Moreover, for some reasons, current readers are not able to display several books at once, so if you want to read some more serious stuff, you can do it on your ereader and at the same time have an encyclopedia (or specialised dictionary) available on your PDA. A thought has just sprang into my mind: what if you could chain your ereaders, so that two or more could interact with each other? For example, you read a book, select a word and it triggers the reference book displayed on the second ereader. Obviously, this wouldn't be so important with language dictionaries, which tend to have rather short entries, so a window inside the main book (like the Jetbook dictionaries) might be just enough. What I mean is a true "reference search", or "keylink". There is a Windows Bible study program, Logos X, which has a "keylink" technology built in: when you click on a word, it searches all your resources and finds all references to this word (or Bible passage). If such technology could be made available in the realm of ereaders, I am sure this would help people see that ereaders are not just pbook substitutes, but powerful study aids in their own right. Obviously, with such technology, one small screen is not enough.