Back in the day, we used to read our books on paper!

by Teejay Valerio

I haven't jumped into the E-book trend yet (how shocking!), but I sure am tempted. With the release of the Barnes and Noble 'Nook', Amazon's Canadian Kindle, and Sony's stalwart E-Book reader, my options for an electronic reading device are more than ever before! Since I don't actually own any of these e-readers (yet...), I thought I might try to convince myself into buying one. Can I come up with a good reason or two? Read more after the break.



I kid around that one day I'm gonna sit by the fireplace with my grandkids, and they'll have no idea what paper is; what it looks like or feels like. Ok so maybe I won't live long enough to see paper become obsolete, but I'm sure that one day it will (although the black market will surely keep a stock of it).

Let's not kid around, e-book readers aren't cheap. There, got that out of the way. Still I could use the argument that over time I would save more money buying the books from the digital stores rather than picking them up from a B&M store. Just like any other piece of new electronic equipment, the Kindle and Nook are susceptible to what I coin the "Early Adopter Tax" (EAT). It's the small price us tech geeks pay for all these newfangled gadgets, our wallets (and significant others) must hate it, but technology must move forward!

I've gotten my hands on a Kindle, and I must say, I was very impressed. The e-ink technology simulates ink on paper quite well. Since the panel isn't backlit, it's easy on the eyes even for long stretches of reading. I wouldn't really work if I tried to read on it in the dark though. Integrated 3G connection makes acquiring new titles a snap without any extra fees too! Books on the Amazon store are DRM protected, but New Releases and Best Sellers are priced very competitively (9.99ish) compared to their on-the-shelf counterparts.
The unit itself is very sleek and compact. It's a bit larger than your standard paperback and is thin as heck! I'd have to buy a leather case to carry it around with, but that's only 20-30 bucks more tacked on to the price. Amazon also offers free shipping with all units, so that's an appreciated bonus. It offers standard magazine and newspaper subscriptions which can be downloaded automatically to the unit. I'd find that useful as I read the N.Y Times daily online anyways.

It's interesting to note that the Barnes and Noble's 'Nook' is out-of-stock till next year. Not meeting demand for Christmas season is a challenging situation for a company that wants to get their product into as many hands as possible. Perhaps they are trying to create an artificial 'demand' for their product? I doubt that though. From reports I've read, they just haven't been able to crank out the Nook's as fast as they wanted to. For the few that do get their hands on one this holiday season... sweet deal. I know that I'm not going to be one of that number.

I checked out Best Buy the other day with regards to Sony's offering into the E-book market. What can I say? Sony had their reader out before Amazon and Barnes & Noble did. It doesn't have all the bells and whistles that the other two readers do, but it's still a very sleek unit. It doesn't hurt that Sony supports the EPUB format for ebooks, definitely a leg up on the competition. They've also got more models for their reader compared to the others, albeit not all models are still in production. The Sony reader is still quite pricey, I wasn't all that keen on purchasing this model.

If I had a limitless income (don't we all wish), my first choice would probably be the Kindle among the 3 contenders mentioned here. Amazon's online library supports well over 300,000 titles (and growing everyday), magazines and newspapers as well. I'm a bit biased towards the Kindle; I've spent the most hands-on time with it out of the three models. Alas, reality can be a *****, as unfortunately there is no limitless income in the cards for me. As tempting as it is to be able to carry 1500 books on one pocket (bag) sized device, I will probably wait till these readers drop to a more affordable price for the average Joe.

Hey, at least 2 of 3 readers are available in Canada! That's already a win for us Canadians.