What was your ultimate reason for getting an E-Reader?

[MR. Pockets]

Originally Posted by JeremyR

Free books. It's actually pretty depressing that most of my favorite authors are not only dead, but they've been dead long enough to be out of copyright in most countries. But I don't like most modern writing. Then again, I don't really like modern movies or TV shows, either. And the new books I do read are almost entirely historical fiction...

Where's the "like" button?

[tiniree]

So many wonderful replies! After reading them all one thought came to my mind: I will always have as many books with me as I want!!! To me that is a very comforting feeling.

Marie

[phenomshel]

Besides what everyone else has said... I've always been a reader. When I lived in Texas, I had shelves and shelves of books, and boxes more in the garage. However, due to a divorce and having no money (shipping books is expensive), I had to leave them in Texas when I moved to Illinois. About broke my heart.
Chris, being the sweetheart he is, offered to line the walls with bookshelves if that's what I wanted, but then I discovered ebook readers and that was all she wrote. The prospect of never having to pack and move thousands of books again; plus knowing that with all the redundant backups I do, my books are safe from just about anything, gives me wonderful peace of mind.

[Nathanael]

"What was your ultimate reason for getting an E-Reader?"

What? My first reader or my second reader?

I bought my first reader for two reasons: I'm an avid reader and I'm a gadget freak.

I bought my second reader for two reasons: Portability. And I'm a gadget freak.

My reader has not replaced my pbooks. I still love the feel of a pbook in my hand, and there's something comforting about sitting in my study after a long day at work surrounded by shelves full of books. Besides, visitors are often impressed by my library. Somehow, showing them the 64gb SD card in my reader just doesn't have the same impact.

However, there is something to be said for portability and convenience. On my recent excursion to Antarctica, for example, rather than having to decide which six pbooks to pick off my shelves, I just grabbed my reader, slapped in that 64gb card, and headed off to the bottom of the world with more books than the library of Alexandria.

Still, if I'm going to fall asleep with a good book in the bath, I'd much rather it were a pbook.

--Nathanael

[GraceKrispy]

Ultimately, my husband decided I'd love one and bought me one for my birthday. I was initially upset.

[Luke King]

I don't like reading on a monitor screen, and a lot of what I wanted to read I could only access for free online.

[Sweetpea]

Convenience and because nobody else had one (at least not in my surroundings). I could never withstand a nice gadget!

[Nathanael]

Originally Posted by Sweetpea

I could never withstand a nice gadget!

Yeah, I'm generally one of the first to cry "uncle!" in the face of a gadget onslaught myself. I'm trying to convince my wife to get an iPad because I want one despite the fact that I have no use for it.

--Nathanael

[ctol]

For me it was the following reasons:

Space- ran out of it in my house. Araid it was going to cave in from the weight of all my books.

Travel- I travel by train across country when I go on vacation so can take an entire
libraray with me. Never have to worry about running out of stuff to read.

Research- I do a lot of writing so being able to have as much research material available as possible is good. Especially the ancient and medieval history books I download from the Internet Archive for free. Many of those books are hard to find even through interlibrary loan. Can take my time reading them without any time constraints

Portability- all of the reasons listed above.

[kacir]

When I was getting my first e-reader, an e-reader was either a small notebook or fancy (and prohibitively expensive) newfangled device called PDA. So I reused an old, very obsolete notebook from the trash.

I got my first e-reader because I exhausted all practical possibilities of how to get a book in English in my corner of world. Books in English used to be pretty rare here and usually very expensive.

[robkat]

The really tight luggage limits on flights. Going on hols for 2 weeks would mean 7 or 8 books. Now can take hundreds.

[mr ploppy]

To read books that didn't exist on paper without having to print them out first.

[Crowl]

Portability and space for me.

I travelled a lot with work back then so it was an ideal way to take a few books with me without them taking up extra luggage space and at home I didn't really have the shelf space for any more books either.

[GhostHawk]

At the time I had a lot of Ebook's on my computer (Baen, PG, etc) but reading for hours on the computer just wasn't that comfortable.

So I wanted a small device that could go where I went, be it my comfy chair in the living room or my fishing chair down by the river.

That is what got me hooked.

What has kept me hooked is vast #'s of books that fit on 2 gig SD cards, being able to read anytime, anywhere with just a push of a button. Since then we are up to a 4 ebook reader family, and my wife is planning on giving her boss one for Christmas.

The only thing that could be any better would be a direct book reader to mind interface.
I figure by the time my eye's are worn out we'll have it.

[HamsterRage]

Originally Posted by HarleyB

The month before I bought my Kobo I went on holidays to Vietnam for 3 weeks. My husband and I took 5 books to read during that time (as well as a guide book) so 6 books.
One of those books was a dud and neither of us enjoyed reading it. What a waste to carry it half way round the world!
I was lucky enough that 2 of our hotels had a guests lending library with a fair selection of books in English and I also managed to score a book that another tourist was throwing away.
Having half a suitcase full of books just for a 3 week holiday was a real pain.

I don't like reading on a computer screen but a friend showed me her Sony. So I started to think about an ereader and then the Kobo was released. I knew it was meant to be!
Since I bought the ereader I have discovered a few more things that are really great.
I love that I can have a new book in the middle of the night without leaving home within a few minutes of deciding I want it.
I love that I can take as many books as I want with me everyday - no more having to decide WHICH book I might feel like reading later on.
I love that I won't need to buy any more bookshelves. I'm hoping that more of my existing pbook collection will become available at a cheap enough price so that I can have them as ebooks and free up some space in my study.
I love that all the new books I have bought in the last few months were cheaper as ebooks than as pbooks.
I love how small light the Kobo is - so much easier to hold and read for hours at a time.
I love that people see me reading my Kobo and think that I am some sort of techno wiz when actually I'm just veging out with some trashy novel that I wouldn't normally read in public!

Our strategy was to take throw-away books that both of us would read, in order to keep the weight down and to not have to bring them back. Vacation books become even more strategic when you're going to a country where books in English are going to be hard, or impossible, to purchase.

Now I don't care.