[jedrider]

I've been very enthused about E-Readers latele, ever since my daughter decided she wanted a Nook Color. So, here it is. My enthusiasm comes from the fact that I am reading even more now than I did before. I live in a district with fairly high intellectual aspirations, so we have mostly new libraries stocked with a lot of the new books -- though not all.

Nook Color
Nook Simple Touch
Kindle 3
Kindle Touch

My kid has the Nook Color. She loves it. I can't stand reading text on a TFT screen. However, it is kind of a neat format to be able to read email and watch and listen to youtube videos on something that costs $199.00 and that you can tuck under your arm to carry.

The Nook Simple Touch fits in the hand like a glove. Works great for reading novels and narrative non-fiction.

Kindle Touch is about the same mostly. You save 50 cents and tax for every book (why does B&N charge tax for a service, I don't know?)?

Kindle 3 is like a dinosaur by comparison -- no touch. It does landscape mode and I love it for that reason!

Waiting for the next generation Touch that has landscape mode and perhaps has a slightly bigger screen, but don't want something ungainly to hold. I am really enthused about these devices. It has got me to read even more than I already do.

I mention landscape mode because the non-fiction books that I like to read have enough big words and complicated sentences that I find them more readable with longer lines. Sometimes I want to run my finger across the line -- doesn't work so well with touch sensitive devices though.

[Tanada]

My spouse got me a Kindle 3 for Christmas and I love the darn thing. Never thought I would switch away from real books but this thing is so convenient, I have about 35 books on it and only have to carry one item lighter than a standard paperback and about the size of a thin trade paperback to boot!

[Heineken]

I will never switch away from real paper books. For me, they represent a welcome vacation from the electronic screen. For me, a quality paper book actually enhances the reading experience.

I'm aware of the conveniences that electronic readers offer, but they aren't enough to sway me.

I've heard that download costs are getting jacked up. That's the usual pattern: get some critical mass of people hooked on an electronic gizmo, then raise the cost of the feed.

[furrybill]

My wife got me a Nook for my birthday this past summer and it was one of the best presents I've ever gotten. The idea of carrying around hundreds or even thousands of books on one small platform is just amazing. The black and white screen is specially configured for reading and for me easier on the eyes than a normal book. There are lots of sites where you can download free books or buy collections for $0.99, and there's a free application called Calibre that you can use to organize your library on your computer. One of my prep tasks is to download as many of the "classics" as well as how-to books as I can so that they'll be available to children and grandchildren just in case...

[eastbay]

I do about half my book reading on a Kindle 3G I got for Christmas in '10. It's a wonderful device. I try to stick to books offered for under ten bucks, but free ones are my favorite.

As an aside, on Amazon about 2/3 of the copies of my novel, Shut Down, are kindle downloads. This is somewhat more than average possibly indicating that e-readers are really catching on among our demographic group.

[Heineken]

The idea of carrying around hundreds or even thousands of books on one small platform is just amazing. The black and white screen is specially configured for reading and for me easier on the eyes than a normal book. There are lots of sites where you can download free books or buy collections for $0.99, and there's a free application called Calibre that you can use to organize your library on your computer. One of my prep tasks is to download as many of the "classics" as well as how-to books as I can so that they'll be available to children and grandchildren just in case...

I need to "carry around" only one book at a time, thanks. And I seriously doubt that an electronic screen is "easier on the eyes" than a paper book; that's just the sort of empty assertion a salesman would make. I can get real books practically for free (and absolutely for free at the library), and how long do you think those 99-cent downloads will last? This is just another form of dependency on others. There's nothing remotely preppie about it.

[Cog]

I have to agree with you here Heineken. We have book sales at my local library every two weeks. Friends of the library donate books of all sorts and most of them go anywhere from 10 cents to 25 cents. I bought a full set of the Practical Handyman's Encyclopedia(circa 1965) for a dollar. Eveything from wiring a light bulb to building a bomb shelter.

Books, in their physical form, will not go away anytime soon.

[Heineken]

I hope not, Cog, but even if they stop publishing physical books, there will be billions more than enough around to fuel me for what's left of my little life.

To the others: Sorry for being crabby. As a book lover, I've resented this incursion of computers into this last bastion of the old information world. But if these toyz make you happy, more power to them (or should it be, More power to you?).

[Lore]

I have an IPad2 and a couple of kindles, in fact I'm sending this right now from my IPad. I also have a pretty extensive library filled with the skins of dead trees. I do wonder though when the lights go out all over the world, sometime in the future, where will these individuals glean their knowledge?

[lper100km]

The irony of the digital age – unlimited information storage for unlimited time but eventually, no way to access it.

[careinke]

I do about half my book reading on a Kindle 3G I got for Christmas in '10. It's a wonderful device. I try to stick to books offered for under ten bucks, but free ones are my favorite.

As an aside, on Amazon about 2/3 of the copies of my novel, Shut Down, are kindle downloads. This is somewhat more than average possibly indicating that e-readers are really catching on among our demographic group.

So are you making a sequel or what? I need another good summer read.

[careinke]

I hope not, Cog, but even if they stop publishing physical books, there will be billions more than enough around to fuel me for what's left of my little life.

To the others: Sorry for being crabby. As a book lover, I've resented this incursion of computers into this last bastion of the old information world. But if these toyz make you happy, more power to them (or should it be, More power to you?).

LOL I picture you in Gutenberg's time; "I'm just not comfortable with this movable type stuff, whats wrong with quills and ink pots?"

[Heineken]

The basic medium was still the same then, Careinke---real ink on real paper, real illustrations, and real tooled-leather bookmarks---ah, now that's living.

The sterile e-thingy is different in every way. Maybe it's better for some, but it's not better for me.

It's amazing to me how complacent and cooperative people can be as Central Services jerks them around and steals the best things away.

[eastbay]

I do about half my book reading on a Kindle 3G I got for Christmas in '10. It's a wonderful device. I try to stick to books offered for under ten bucks, but free ones are my favorite.

As an aside, on Amazon about 2/3 of the copies of my novel, Shut Down, are kindle downloads. This is somewhat more than average possibly indicating that e-readers are really catching on among our demographic group.

So are you making a sequel or what? I need another good summer read.

It's in final editing. Should be ready by June ... May, if if lucky.

[jedrider]

It's in final editing. Should be ready by June ... May, if if lucky.

What! No Nook edition of your first novel?

I have multiple e-Readers: I am trying to get a feel for them.

So far I have narrative stuff on the Nook Simple Touch and heavy, real apocalytic, reading on the Kindle 3. You're messing up my routine

[careinke]

The basic medium was still the same then, Careinke---real ink on real paper, real illustrations, and real tooled-leather bookmarks---ah, now that's living.

The sterile e-thingy is different in every way. Maybe it's better for some, but it's not better for me.

It's amazing to me how complacent and cooperative people can be as Central Services jerks them around and steals the best things away.

It was in jest. FYI, I don't have an e-reader either. Although, it could be an option (with a solar recharger), for "How To" manuals in a post peak world. I worry about storage of books long term.

[jedrider]

The irony of the digital age – unlimited information storage for unlimited time but eventually, no way to access it.

I don't know about irony here. However, the human population explosion has also resulted in an explosion of things to read. Fortunately, the public behaves at a pre-literate level and doesn't demand as many books as you would think a mostly literate society would demand.

Anyway, I have trouble with book storage. The e-Reader is a technology for it's time, undoubtably, and IMO not a gimick at all.

Sometime, in the far future, people will be trying to get a box to work that contains all the books ever written. Then, our written history will just go blank!

[Lore]

The movie, The Book of Eli, presented a farely plausible post-apocalyptic view on the nature of future literacy.

[furrybill]

The idea of carrying around hundreds or even thousands of books on one small platform is just amazing. The black and white screen is specially configured for reading and for me easier on the eyes than a normal book. There are lots of sites where you can download free books or buy collections for $0.99, and there's a free application called Calibre that you can use to organize your library on your computer. One of my prep tasks is to download as many of the "classics" as well as how-to books as I can so that they'll be available to children and grandchildren just in case...

I need to "carry around" only one book at a time, thanks. And I seriously doubt that an electronic screen is "easier on the eyes" than a paper book; that's just the sort of empty assertion a salesman would make. I can get real books practically for free (and absolutely for free at the library), and how long do you think those 99-cent downloads will last? This is just another form of dependency on others. There's nothing remotely preppie about it.

Might be an empty assertion from a salesman but in my case it's reality. The 99-cent download lasts for as long as I can get my hands on some electricity - how long will that library last? Sorry but it seems to me that history is full of people burning down libraries, I prefer to build my own, especially in a form factor that makes it tremendously easy to hide from other people. And what's really got me curious is how you think having my own books in electronic form is dependency on others whereas assuming I can get them at the library isn't? Your logic seems a bit backwards to me here.

Regardless, it's all about what you're comfortable with. I like em, you don't, tomayto, tomahto...