eReaders

[Phantom]

I was thinking of buying one. I read sooo much and right now my truck has a mini library in it and is wasting space. Plus books are expensive and I hate using libraries because I always forget to return the books. An eReader would be so much better. I've used a Kindle before and it was good and I liked it, are there any you would suggest?

 

[nastypass]

I would be lost without my Kindle. I live in the middle of nowhere, so my local library doesn't have a lot of books, and the closest bookstore was a) half an hour away, and b) Borders, so its usefulness just skyrocketed for me.

I've got the old 3G version (now known as Keyboard 3G) and it works brilliantly. Haven't heard too much about the newer versions, apart from the Fire, which hasn't come out yet. I think opal got one of them, so he'll probably know a bit more on that front.

 

[Phantom]

Yeah I'm reading Water for Elephants on my mom's Kindle that I "borrowed". I like it... I think it's the 2010 model? Not sure. I like it... I never thought I would. I am a book fan... nothing beats the smell and feel of a book; you know?

 

[Dannichu]

Libararies > anything, ever. A fine here and there is nothing compared to being able to borrow just about any book ever (surely small libraries will order books in for you?), free. Lots of libraries nowadays have services where you'll get emails/text messages when your loan period's nearly up, and even if they don't, you can mark the due dates on your calendar or something.

(I'm not being especially helpful, I know, but libraries aaaahhh <3)

 

[goldenquagsire]

Libararies > anything, ever. A fine here and there is nothing compared to being able to borrow just about any book ever (surely small libraries will order books in for you?), free. Lots of libraries nowadays have services where you'll get emails/text messages when your loan period's nearly up, and even if they don't, you can mark the due dates on your calendar or something.

(I'm not being especially helpful, I know, but libraries aaaahhh <3)

This, so much. Not everyone has the cash to throw on an e-reader. Books never run out of energy and they're less likely to get stolen.

It seems kind of inevitable that dead tree books will slowly die out, but I for one will miss them. :(

 

[Phantom]

I love the library too, but mine is so small and there's this creepy guy there that scares me.... Plus an eReader is smaller and would be a better choice overall.

 

[Saith]

I use a Kindle 3G.
It's small, slim, doesn't hurt your eyes, stores a fuckton of books and allows you to get them instantly.
The same can be said about any ereader, though, so.

The Kindle's directly connected to Amazon, though, so you don't need to go through the effort of converting them/compatibility issues.

 

[Tailsy]

One of my uni friends uses a Kindle and they're pretty sweet. You can download the classics (or rather, anything out of copyright) for free, so they're really useful in that regard if that's what you're into. Personally I prefer actual books because I like the feeling of writing notes in them and bending the pages and cracking the spines (basically everything most English majors HATE, I adore), but Kindles are pretty cool and I actually quite liked using it.

Libraries are great too! I love the one in Edinburgh <3

 

[opaltiger]

This, so much. Not everyone has the cash to throw on an e-reader. Books never run out of energy and they're less likely to get stolen.

It seems kind of inevitable that dead tree books will slowly die out, but I for one will miss them. :(

The Kindle basically never runs out of power, too. :P

I don't think eReaders will ever completely replace books. They're fine for casual reading, but if you're doing any sort of serious work that requires rapid flipping back and forth, it gets tedious quickly. I only gave in after I realised it simply wasn't feasible for me to store as many books as I tend to read.

 

[goldenquagsire]

The Kindle basically never runs out of power, too. :P

I don't think eReaders will ever completely replace books. They're fine for casual reading, but if you're doing any sort of serious work that requires rapid flipping back and forth, it gets tedious quickly. I only gave in after I realised it simply wasn't feasible for me to store as many books as I tend to read.

That seems reassuring. :D

Problem is, at York they want to make everything paperless so they're distributing ebooks and PDFs rather than telling people to get stuff out of the library. I can't stand reading a lot of text (like, 20+ pages) on a screen and I don't have an ereader so I just print everything off, thus defeating the entire point.

 

[Aisling]

I saw this thread on the index and thought we were talking about

:[

that being said I really hope eReaders don't replace books, because I really like books. They're nice to look at on a shelf, they're nice to hold, they smell nice... I've never actually tried an eReader but I can't imagine it being much nicer than browsing tumblr on my iPod or something. And that's only sort of okay when I'm feeling too lazy to get my laptop out. Eh.

 

[opaltiger]

I've never actually tried an eReader but I can't imagine it being much nicer than browsing tumblr on my iPod or something.

That is what I thought until I actually tried a Kindle. They are nothing like reading things on more conventional screens.

 

[Zora of Termina]

I saw this thread on the index and thought we were talking about

:[

This.

Anywho, I don't own one. But then I wouldn't much like to, there's just something about a book that technology can't replicate.

 

[Flareth]

I also thought we were talking about the GBA thing. xD

My mom has oneand it's pretty cool....and I ocassionally read previews of books online. I prefer actual books though. I'm angry about these electronic books...it caused Borders to go out of business around here. D:

 

[Dannichu]

Plus, I would never take a Kindle or anything to the beach (where I do all my reading in summer) for fear of getting sand all in it.

Though I guess Kindles and such have the advantage of a backlight, so you can continue reading even when your housemates don't feed the electricity metre and all your lights go out.

(why yes, I have been thinking about the pros and cons all day)

 

[opaltiger]

They don't have a backlight. That's the point; backlit screens are awful to read on and strain your eyes. The Kindle screen genuinely looks as much like paper as I imagine a screen ever can.

 

[Shoe]

You do not necessarily have to buy an eReader. I have a nook for PC app on my computer. My library system allows users to check out eBooks and download them onto their computer or Ipod and that way I can get around due dates and the price of buying a hard copy. I also use Nook for PC to rent text books for college.

 

[Saith]

I love my kindle because I travel all over Britain pretty often.
They're great on trains because... Well, for obvious reasons. You can have your whole library on your kindle and it takes up less room than an actual book.
It's kind of like having an iPod but for books. :D

(Also, yes, they're pretty easy to break. D: My dog stepped on mine, and it kind of broke. Got it replaced for free, though. :3 )

 

[Chickensanity]

I bought a Kindle recently to replace my rubbish e-book reader (could only read text files. Converting files to text had... bad results. On top of that, it loved freezing.) The Kindle is incredible, and you can get free e-books from the Amazon Kindle store too. It was definitely worth purchasing.

 

[spaekle]

If you want an e-ink screen: a Kindle's great, if you want something cheaper then I had a little Sony one with a touch screen that worked just fine (and it reads epub documents, which I don't believe the Kindle can do).

If you want one of those new LCD readers that are trying too hard to be tablets: just save up for a tablet and get the ereader apps. The only real advantage to buying one of these over a tablet is the cost. :|