Friday, July 2, 2010

TO E, OR NOT TO E, THAT IS THE QUESTION....

That would be whether I should give in and buy an ebook reader.

As my geneablog readers and Facebook friends might recall, I've
been very skeptical of ebooks. I love printed books, the feel of the
page, the art on the cover, the slow deliberate act of turning a page
to read.I've spent many hours in my life reading sitting inside or out.
I can't imagine a world where there are no printed books available
in libraries or bookstores, although there are those who assure us
that day is not far in the future.

But lately, I've been tempted.

One factor is my new apartment. I had to downsize my library
when I moved here, and I don't have the room to buy all the books
that have come out since the move that I'd like to buy. I eliminated
most of my history books, and as much as I love the sf, fantasy, and
mystery genres, I miss having books at hand about ancient history or
the middle ages. I could use the ebook reader to purchase those books
and books by new writers. However I'd still buy printed books by my
favorite authors.

Another factor is affordability. The prices have become to drop, and
there's an ereader out there on the horizon for $119.95. Some of them
come preloaded with one hundred classics.

A third factor is that some of them can have documents loaded onto
them. I could bore my co-workers with my family tree, blogposts,
poetry, and stories. "Here, see? That's the post I wrote about my
ancestors who....".

Of course there would be a limit. No Kindles or Nooks. They are,
after all, the competition.

So there's the question, and there's the arguments for making the
plunge into being an ebook reader owner.

I'm still deciding.

5 comments:

  1. Interesting problem. Perhaps you should just download ebooks onto your computer and read them there for now and later (when more and more publishers, authors, and magazines are doing ebooks) you can buy one. Plus the prices will be super low around Thanksgiving.

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  2. I've been drooling over e-readers since I first saw them! I'm not even sure which one I want but I DO want one. Not in the budget right now :(

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  3. Bill, I totally relate to your comments and dilemma. I've also been a book buyer and hoarder for years and also trying to downsize. I've probably donated about half of my book collection already. I'm also a gadget junkie, but have been trying to keep that in check, too. I didn't know that the Kindle was available anywhere besides Amazon, but saw my first one "in person" at Target yesterday. Oh boy, at this new lower price, I might be tempted. But - as Elyse suggests, for now, I've just been downloading some ebooks to my computer. Amazon has software called Kindle for PC or something like that, so you don't really need an ebook reader to get the book. In an effort to simplify my life, I have also rediscovered the joy of my local library once again. And time being as short as it is, I get audio books from Audible.com so I can "read" books during my commuting and travel time. It's not the same as feeling the printed page, and I will always have a love affair with books.

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  4. Elyse-I've already thought of the downloading.I've been doing it already with some of the genealogy books on Googlebooks.

    Susan-My main problem with the Kindle is that it's proprietary software. The only place you can buy ebooks for Kindles so far is Amazon. All the other ereaders let you dl ebooks from anywhere.

    Apple-The prices keep coming down. I wouldn;t be surprised to see a $99 ereader out there in time for "back to school" sales.

    Thanks all for the comments!

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  5. My husband is in love with the iPad, but he wants me to wait until before Christmas and buy him one as a "gift". His rationale is that Apple will probably come up with a new version by then, and the price will be significantly less (like you mentioned). Both you and he are technology guys, so I'm not surprised!

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