Tell us the reason why you bought an ereader

[VAharleygirl]

Originally Posted by Namekuseijin

wtf does that even mean?

I can turn pages either with a finger to the right or to the left of the screen or even simply pushing a button or another.

this is not a real book, forget such lame emulations of limitations of physical books...

If you'd read the other part of my post, where I indicated what I'm using now, and perhaps looked the eBookwise up if you're not familiar with it, you might understand without being a special person about your comment.

It means I can hold the reader comfortably in either hand, and be able to turn the pages without having to use my other hand. Thus ambidextrous.

Depending on how one is holding the reader, to use a finger to the right or left of the screen would imply holding the reader at the bottom or using your other hand; as for the buttons - not all ereaders are designed for lefties.

[Caltsar]

The kindle and the nook (for example) are symmetrical and can be held and used with either hand. Both the next and previous page buttons are replicated on both sides of the device with the back button on top and the next button on the bottom. It's one of the reasons I chose to buy a Nook. I tend to shift which hand I hold the device in as I read, so being able to hit the next page button no matter which hand I choose to hold it in is a wonderful thing!

[tgnd]

So many reasons!

1) I live in a podunk little town where the salvation army sells paperbacks for $1.50 and the used book store sells them for $4.50. The library is mostly christian fiction and horror, neither of which I have the remotest interest in.

2) I take public transit which runs every 40 minutes, so I spend a lot of time waiting for a bus. I often read while waiting for the bus, and knit while on the bus. It's a lot easier to shove the kindle in my purse as the bus is arriving than to try not to lose a knitting needle and tangle the ball of yarn in a hurry.

3) My knitting patterns can now be carried around on my kindle - perfect since I was forever losing the page with the part of the pattern I was working on.

4) The bus schedule can be carried on my kindle so I don't have to guess how much longer before the next bus shows up somewhere because I left the DTB version of it in my other purse.

5) So much easier to read! I have occasional back pain issues which make it very uncomfortable to sit or lie in certain positions and the only comfortable ones are impossible to hold a book open in front of my face from!

6) I can use gmail to send a quick txt msg to someone while I'm out and about without breaking out my prepaid cell phone and paying $1 PER TEXT MSG!

7) I have all sorts of files/lists/etc that I can carry with me anywhere now. LOVE that. I shop using coupons and have created my own 'system' that just in 3 weeks has probably saved me atleast half the cost of my kindle in my weekly trips to the store.

8) Oh yeah.. I can read on it too.. pretty nifty that it can do that! I've been reading more since I got the kindle than I used to before. Which I absolutely love since I hardly read in the last few years - between moving to the middle of nowhere where nobody reads (really, even yardsales don't have books here, it's depressing!) and not having the space to store any fiction once I've filled my shelves with my cookbooks, knitting books, and general craft books (all books that need those pretty glossy images we'll never get on the kindle) I think I must have read less than 10 books a year the last couple of years. I'm currently on book #8 since Jan 29th. I can feel my braincells regenerating each time I sit down to read.

[snipenekkid]

Originally Posted by Caltsar

The kindle and the nook (for example) are symmetrical and can be held and used with either hand. Both the next and previous page buttons are replicated on both sides of the device with the back button on top and the next button on the bottom. It's one of the reasons I chose to buy a Nook. I tend to shift which hand I hold the device in as I read, so being able to hit the next page button no matter which hand I choose to hold it in is a wonderful thing!

While it's close, the Kindle is not 100% hand agnostic. And the DX devices are actually 100% right handed in their operation. On the K1/K2us/K2i/K3 the nav buttons are different on the left and right sides.

Now my PB360 and the Onyx 60(?) are indeed completely hand agnostic.

[vbkun]

1) Nintendo DS: I used to read dtb when I was a kid, I actually loved books (I had a criminal case where i manage to steal like 60 books from the library, i'm not proud thou -.-). At some point I just forgot what books were all about (maybe some unconsciousness trauma/shame?). 2 years ago I got a ds, 1 year ago i started reading on it, rediscovered the joys of reading ^^ (now mostly in english thou, not my mother language). My ds actually had a button broken, but my friend had to find it out cause the soft i used for reading didn't use it(so it may be broke for almost an whole year already). Ds is small, I got to a reading flux now that the backlight+small size are bad for my eyes -.-.

2) On the years I wasn't reading i grew some sort of hatred on dtbs. I don't like the space taken, the weight, i never enjoyed that part when u get in the middle of the book and u have to force it open cause it's too thick, then the 'pasting' of pages will started deteriorate. It gets dirty (i sweat a lot on hands). I DO really find troublesome to keep turning pages =,=, after reading on ds page turning seems like a reading flow killer. Actually I have 2 dtbs here lent from a fd, wich i'm trying to read for the past 6 months, but I never start... (I think I'm just waiting my reader to arrive to look for a digital ver -,-, and keeping then in meantime in case i don't find).

3) I don't really care for specifc titles. I'm 27, reading for 1 year only, haven't read before since i was 13. The amount of books I want to read is huge, so if I don't find the e-book for something i feel like reading, so far there is a plenty other titles to look to.

4) Language: I actually enjoyed so much reading english, it feels more accurate and even thou my vocab. and skills in my mother language (portuguese), the reading flow in english feels just a lot better. (And it's a lot cheaper to get an english book online delivered digitally then paying a shipping).

5) It's neat :P. Wanna a better reason than this one?

[Asawi]

I first looked into getting an eReader cause it would be a good way to read even though my eyesight is not very good. Pocket books are usually too difficult to read and I don't really want to spend hardcover money.
Once I started looking more into it I realized that our library has a very good selection AND no waiting time whatsoever! (Different system than i US). Some new books are available to borrow as ePub even before the printed copies have hit the stores yet! Woohoo!
After years of not reading much at all because of my eyes I'm now back to being my old book-guzzling self!
Wooohooo!!!

[ApK]

Originally Posted by snipenekkid

On the K1/K2us/K2i/K3 the nav buttons are different on the left and right sides.

No, the K3 has symmetrical page nav buttons on right and left. That's one of the reasons I got a K3 instead of a K2. On my wife's K2, I'm always hitting 'Home' when I think I mean to hit 'previous page.'

ApK

[philandjan]

I got my Kindle 3 because:

1. I had Amazon vouchers to spend and I quite like useful gadgets.

2. We shall be moving from England to live in a remote part of France where getting any kind of book is challenging, let alone getting one in English. Being able to go to the Amazon bookstore while sitting in the back garden with a glass of wine and downloading a new book is very appealing.

[kkachi]

I bought a Sony E-reader because I was about to go into the hospital for chemotherapy and did not want to bring a lot of books into the hospital with me. (Also, I live in Seoul, South Korea, where it's not so easy to find English books, especially older ones.)

[Poppaea]

Originally Posted by kkachi

I bought a Sony E-reader because I was about to go into the hospital for chemotherapy and did not want to bring a lot of books into the hospital with me. (Also, I live in Seoul, South Korea, where it's not so easy to find English books, especially older ones.)

Oh, that is a very sad reason! I do sincerely hope you are way better now!!!! Apart from the reason why you bought it, do you like it?

[bert501]

Originally Posted by Asawi

...After years of not reading much at all because of my eyes I'm now back to being my old book-guzzling self!
Wooohooo!!!

LOVE this phrase: book-guzzling self

[stickybuns]

1. I tutor English/literature, so it's important for me to be able to pull up anything and everything that a student might want to discuss. Having an ereader lets me do my job more efficiently.

2. I don't always know what I'm going to be in the mood to read when I'm heading out of the house for the day.

3. My pbook editions of Chaucer and Shakespeare weigh close to 8 lbs EACH. My Kindle weighs just a smidge less than that.

4. Since I'm able to increase the font size on ebooks, I can read for longer stretches of time.

5. I like gadgets.

[kkachi]

Originally Posted by Poppaea

Oh, that is a very sad reason! I do sincerely hope you are way better now!!!! Apart from the reason why you bought it, do you like it?

I do like it, but my computer decided not to recognize my e-reader last week, so I'm stuck reading text files on my mp3 player until I figure this out. (As for my chemo, I'm well at the moment, but need one more session of chemo as a precaution.)

[Poppaea]

Originally Posted by kkachi

I do like it, but my computer decided not to recognize my e-reader last week, so I'm stuck reading text files on my mp3 player until I figure this out. (As for my chemo, I'm well at the moment, but need one more session of chemo as a precaution.)

Precaution sounds good. I hope everything will turn out well for you and you regain your health fully!!

Regarding the reader, do some digging in the Sony forum, I am sure you will find helpfull posts there.