Tell us the reason why you bought an ereader

[sourcejedi]

Ok, I do like gadgets I can hack or play with. But I can't justify what it costs on that basis.

I was reading free ebooks, fanfiction etc. but at a limited rate. An e-reader lets me read more than I would otherwise.

I do like the compactness of digital files. Some people like physical books; I like my library on an SD card. All ~500 Mb of it . Seriously though, I like having less "stuff" lying around. I liked to think it would be more efficient than chopping down trees... _economically_ thats true, but I'm not going to claim it's greener without running the numbers.

I also liked the idea of downloading the various stories I'd read over the years. (I was surprised to find how many of them had been Baen free samples).

I didn't think it'd be more convenient (whether I compared it to a netbook or a physical book). But it _is_ more convenient to read a 'slate in bed; you can lie on your side and not worry about keeping the pages apart. (I wonder if that's true of an iPad... .

Unfortunately I can't remember whether I thought of this last one beforehand. But I now consider physical books inferior - because they don't have a clock that reminds me exactly how long I've stayed up reading. The e-reader also gives me a slightly better grasp of page numbers... maybe that's just from when I have to resort to the "go to page #" feature, but it also doesn't hurt that FBReader gives me a fixed 1 page = 2K of text.

[fantasyfan]

Originally Posted by jocampo

Agree.

Have you had any problems getting books from Ireland, at Amazon store?

A very few books are available only in the US. For the most part I've had no problem at all. In fact, I have to use Amazon.com rather than Amazon.co.uk.

For some reason Amazon UK won't ship the Kindle nor allow book orders outside the UK, but the American base will ship from the US to Ireland. My Kindle 3 is the International model and had to come direct from the States. Hence, all books, accessories, etc come from the States.

[Chi Cygni]

I don't live in the country of my origin. There are no bookshops here where I could buy books in my language and I love to read. I paid 2x as much for delivery by post. So it allows me to read in my language anytime, anywhere. I really missed it before I bought my ereader. 1 weekly magazine that was available in the newsstand wasn't the same really. (btw, now I read that magazine on ipad)

[Jowi]

I bought my Kindle 1 when my daughter was a newborn and I almost dropped Stephanie Meyer's The Host on her when I was reading while holding her. (heavy hard cover) That, and I love reading in bed and my whole life every other page has been awkward to hold the book lying down. Now every page is comfortable!

[Coops]

"None of the above"

Work offshore, oilfield work - could be 4 or 5 weeks on a rig..... have previously, many years ago, run out of books to read.
No laptop in those days, or satellite TV feeds..... not a pleasant situation.

So the ereader has been a great way to save lugging books around.

Got a Sony as i'm in Asia and the Kindle is too locked down.... and the original kindle was too horribly beige and Dell-like anyway ;-)

so Sony 505 it was....

Now a 350, as I saw a work colleagues and couldn't resist the improved screen - and, as I had my 505 as 'backup' (just in case) I could do the Boroda hack on the 350 to replace the font with Fontin. Yay.

Coops

[DixieGal]

You left off handicap accessability. My vision degraded from being able to read regular print to needing larger and larger fonts since 2006. The huge zoom and high contrast on iPad has already given me 10 more months of reading since e-ink stopped working for me.

[Yervant]

I remember when the Kindle first came out and there was so much hype and I thought to myself, "Me? Read on one of those? Never!!" I am an avid reader and I love the feel of a book in my hands, the paper, the ink, the whole experience. And then I met the Sony PRS-950, and my life literally changed! What sold me were two things in particular: the ability to read hard to find books written in Armenian from the 19th and early 20th centuries, which I would be lucky to ever find in a library, but which are rapidly being uploaded to sites like Google Books, and the second reason: the realization that I could read medieval Armenian manuscripts that I had digitized from microfilms all without the eye strain associated with computer screens and at my convenience wherever I was. That I can carry around hundreds and thousands of other books around in my pocket is just the icing on the cake. So an ereader has not replaced the ink and paper book altogether, but it has certainly and dramatically changed my reading life and my ability to access and interact with the texts I seek out.

[DMB]

Like a lot of people I had too many dead-tree books taking up huge amounts of space. And I travel a lot and got fed up with suitcases half full of books. So I decided I needed an ebook-reader but was dithering about it for quite while. I got a bit diverted by the launch of the iPad and wondered if that was a solution, but it was quite expensive and quite heavy and I couldn't imagine just holding it for hours to read a book. Then Amazon brought out the K3 at a bargain price and I went for it! I'm very satisfied.

[bevdeforges]

Though I'm also a big reader and have the problem of no more room to shelve books (including no real way to get rid of books I've already read - short of throwing them away), my main reason was for improved access to current reading material.

I live in a non-English speaking country, where English language reading material is not readily available and expensive when you can find it. No question of borrowing from the local library - they actively reject donations of foreign language books.

Now that they are limiting you to one checked bag per passenger even on international flights, and I'm not going back to the US these days as often as I used to do, a reader became a very practical investment.

[bminata]

1. I love books and read a lot.
2. Easy, fast and cheap way to get books. No I didn't mean the Dark Net but ebooks from Amazon. Including old and out of print books. Get new books fast too! There's no overseas shipping costs and custom fees when I order from my country so I save a lot. Geographical restriction? Puhleezzz... :P
3. Saves space! I have rooms full of books already, and no place for new books. Ebooks are really convenient.
4. Very practical, I can carry lots of books wherever I go. Wherever I go, my Kindle comes with me.

[Avex]

The reason why I buy an ebook reader?

1. Convenient.
2. I love to read.
3. I can read my books anywhere and anytime.
4. Easier to carry around coz thick book makes my bag heavier than usual.

All above is my reasons.

[Mickey330]

As an avid book reader, the convenience of having ALL my books with me and never having to worry about running out of stuff to read - that's why I picked option one.

However, as a secret geek, the "cool" factor of an e-reader was nigh on irresistible! I mean, thousands of books in the palm of your hand. How neat is that?!?!

Marilyn

[Stephen in Kent]

I quite enjoy reading books but usually only get the chance to read when I am on holiday when I have to cram my suite case with as many books as my wife will let me get away with. And if as sometimes happens I manage to finish them all I have to check out the hotels library where I have to go through the books trying to find the English written books and those without too many pages missing. This way I have managed to find some interesting books and authors that I would never have read before.
But with the free books that are available to download I feel that I am at the hotel’s bookcase yet this time its enormous and I can take as many as I like and not feel guilty when I take away more than I leave behind. I can’t remember the last time I paid the full price for a book and even begrudge paying the prices that are being asked for in some charity shops as they are now beginning to get as expensive as new books. Yet with kindle I can down load as many books as I like.

Perhaps my ticker factory (if that what they are called) should read as 90 left to read! And still growing!

[Caltsar]

1: I'm obsessed with gadgety things. An eBook reader is a class of gadget I didn't own at the time, so I needed it!

2: I read a lot, so having a bunch of books accessible is great. I'm running out of shelf space for my paper books... and when I go on trips, it saves packing space too!

[HansTWN]

Since I live in Asia, the reader makes it so much easier and cheaper to buy English language books. Now I enjoy the convenience, I much prefer the reader over pbooks for general reading.