Hello folks,
I've been lurking on the boards for a few weeks, but with the release of Amazon's Kindle I'm stepping up and saying 'Hi'. I am a keen Sci-Fi & Fantasy reader, with 90% of my books being in these two fields. Annoyingly around 40% of my collection is boxed up in the garage for lack of space, so going digital for future purchases is a very appealing notion, and hopefully I'll feel comfortable enough to buy an e-ink ebook reader soon.
One thing that holds me back though is the concern for the future. Through inheriting my mothers collection and twenty years of buying my own I have accumulated perhaps 1500 to 2000 books. There's no reason to think that in another twenty years I won't have added another 1000 books to this collection. Planning for that future however has me a little worried, and perhaps members of this forum can offer some words of wisdom. My concern is that DRM content is tied to a limited number of devices. Mobipocket purchases seem like a reasonable bet, but even there I could only upgrade my device a limited number of times (if I understand correctly). The Kindle is an even worse proposition. I love the device but it seems to me that with its proprietary ebook format my books would be locked to Amazon. Should I ever upgrade to a non Amazon device then I would in effect be burning my ebooks. Now it may be that I'm mistaken here. I have used the search facility and browsed post subject lines, but not found much information on this topic. If someone could point me at some relevant threads, or even just provide a brief synopsis I would very much appreciate it.
Anyway, on a lighter note I'm glad to have found these forums. There's a lot of good chatter going on and I'm looking forward to keeping myself up to speed on what's happening in 'mobile reading'.
Rhys