Do You Love Your eReader? Tell Me Why! - Page 2

[GoBecGo]

I have the sony ereader, my very generous dad gave it to me after he moved to the larger model.

I love it.  It's pretty robus and not too big, so a vote from me.  I've only tried the Kindle once but it felt rather plasticy and cheap to me...at first i thought i was holding the shop display dummy (the gutless type, like they do with expensive mobile phones). YMMV.

[karne]

My 12 y/o is using the Kindle in school, and she loves it.  FWIW, she has some visual tracking issues, which I thought would pose a problem or be uncomfortable for her with an e-reader.  So far, however, no complaints.

[mugglesmom]

I love my Nook!  I bought it last summer before the color ones came out but I don't really read anything in color so I don't know that it matters.  I love that I can download a new book right after I've finished a book without having to go to the store (or even get out of bed if I don't want to!) 

The only thing I'm having a hard time getting used to is bookmarking.  If I have a book that I need/want to go back and reference soemthing from it's not easy to just flip through the pages and find it.  There is a book mark function so you can mark pages to go back to I just always forget to use it.  That would be my only complaint. 

Plus I'm totally addicted to the sudko game on there and I can listen to music on it like an MP3 player!!

[goodygumdrops]

I have a Nook Color.  LOVE IT!!!!  I check out library books at least once a week.  I actually haven't purchased a book in over a month.  However, my library system isn't the greatest, so I am mostly reading fluffy romance novels...which is perfect for me because I'm about the finish my MA and I need a little distraction ;)  To much academic reading. 

Anyways, you can get loads of books.  I highly recommend it. 

[Sorilla]

There is new "war" going on between traditional publishers and self-published authors, who are totally supported by these fast spreading e-reading culture. The WSJ report is very interesting http://www.marketwatch.com/video/asset/digits-cheap-e-books-have-big-publishers-in-bind/DB784F5E-78D8-4515-A769-CF6645A551C1

[tinuviel_k]

That was an interesting video!

I think the eBook market is making people look hard at the publishing industry, and it has certainly made lose a great deal of respect for it. I like that smaller authors are circumventing the system in this way.

Some issues I am having with the large publishing companies at the moment:

Many publishers are limiting library check-outs to 25 before the book "disappears" and the library needs to buy a new copy. Now, I don't know how long the average library book lasts in the system before it is lost or destroyed, but I am guessing it is a lot longer than 25 check-outs. There are some books in my library that I check out on that were published in the early 80's, and no doubt have been checked out literally hundreds of times. Not to mention that with eBooks the media is automatically returned after its time limit, and the library is unable to collect late fees because of this. It seems to me that eBooks might be a big revenue loss to the public library system if things go on the way they are. It is a shame that the publishing companies are trying to bleed such a valuable public resource.

I completely disagree with the publishers' lending policy. I know some publishers have a limited lending allowance, and then the book can never be lent again. Other publishers do not allow lending at all. Yet I am paying almost the same price for an eBook, and unless I hand over my Kindle to a friend for a week (which is probably considered illegal in some fine-print agreement somewhere!) the book can never be shared.

Ditto for selling my finished books. If used bookshops, garage sales, and the like are not illegal then I think it is ridiculous that reselling eBooks is.

That being said, I really enjoy my Kindle.

[Owen'nZoe]

Such a great post, Tinuviel, and I agree whole-heartedly. I'm all for publishers and authors protecting themselves against illegal copying of their work. However, I find it highly objectionable that the customer does not actually own that book and cannot resell or lend it. (*ETF - I ought to have said "freely" lend it - Amazon does now offer a service where you can lend a book, but you are only allowed to lend any given book twice and only for two weeks at a time. Paper books, I can lend out endlessly as long as people return them.) Especially since the customer has paid almost as much for the book as they would have for a paper copy, and the publisher has not had to incur any of the costs associated with publishing on paper.

Edited by Owen'nZoe - 4/30/11 at 12:20pm

[goinggreengirl]

I have a nookColor and LOVE it. Since I got it a month ago I've read 20 to 30 books. The month before that, I'd only read a couple. It's just so easy to bring with me, stay up in bed and read when little one is asleep, read while he naps. No trying to hold pages open or to turn them silently. I put a memory card in it and I can listen to music, put pictures on there, even watch movies! Plus, with the upgrade they are doing this week, you can download apps and watch videos online. I have not paid for any books but have over 100 on it currently. And B&N does two week free trial of any magazine so I have about 20 magazines on there that haven't cost anything either.

[Shantimama]

I have a Kindle and love it. I like being able to take a dozen books with me when I go away and only have the weight of one! I have been having a lot of trouble with hand pain recently and just being able to set the Kindle down and not hold it open actually makes a difference for me.

I am in Canada and it does frustrate me that some books are not available to me here. I can buy the paperback but not the e-book and that makes no sense to me. It isn't a deal breaker for me but just an annoyance.

The battery lasts forever. I have had mine for 4 months and only charged it 2 or 3 times and I use it frequently.

[stik]

I love my Kindle.  I usually have a couple books going at any one time and I switch back and forth depending on my mood.  The Kindle lets me have them all with me all the time.  I can read books in the kindle format and in .pdf format.  I get books from Amazon, Baen, and project Gutenberg.  I can't borrow library books yet, but amazon is working on a program that will make that possible.  

[Aillidh]

I love my Kindle!  I got mine as a Christmas gift when I had just moved to Texas, before I knew my way around this town or how to get to the library - it really helped.  As others have mentioned, you barely ever have to charge it as long as you turn the Wi-Fi off.  The Wi-Fi's handy though for Wikipedia and Dictionary.com to look something up quickly while you're reading.  I really like mine and I'm looking forward to being able to borrow library books on it!

[fork]

I have a pocketbook IQ, which runs the Android OS. The default reader software lets me use a lot of different formats of ebooks, and I can download other reader apps to let me read other things like kindle or nook books. I love it because it is completely DRM free and customizable. The only things I don't like about it are that is is a bit heavy, probably the same weight as an ipad? The touch screen is also a little odd. The biggest selling point was that it didn't lock me into a certain file format.

[A&A]

Both the Kindle and the regular Nook have a bad "flash" when turning pages, which gives me a headache.  The Nook Color (and the Nook app for smartphones) does not do this.  The Nook Color is a bit heavy, though--heavier than your average hardback. 

[zebra15]

I just found out how to change the background color on the NOOK COLOR.... you have a choice of 5-6 shades of white/gray/black.... this really helps with any eye fatigue !   I feel like such a ditz for not realizing this capability sooner.   The options are on the blue control panel on the bottom on of the screen!

[ramama]

OP back again! LOL  I appreciate everyone's experiences so much.  Thanks!  Now I have another question...with all the Borders stores closing, what does that mean for their e-reader?  Will we still be able to get books?  Anyone know?

[Thalia the Muse]

LOVE my Kindle. I do think that the inability to lend books or give them to someone else after you read them is a big drawback, though. I've more or less gotten around it by registering my parents' Kindle to my account, so we can share all our books, because 95% of my book-sharing has always been with my mom. If they want to buy a book, they can just go into their Amazon account and send it to my Kindle as a gift, and we can put it on both devices.

It's light, it's easy on the eyes (easier than a print book, especially in direct sunlight), and I have loads of public-domain books on there as free downloads -- many that are almost impossible to find as a paper book!

[A&A]

I finally ended up buying the Nook color and I love it!  Beyond reading on it, I can surf the web, and ds can play games on it. 

It does need to be re-charged frequently, though. 

[marimara]

bumping because I'm in the market for one too.  I just played with a Nook Color yesterday ad B&N, it was nice.  The audio was low though.  I see that Amazon is supposed to be coming out with a new Kindle and even a Kindle Tablet soon. I"m gonna hold out till I see what they are like since I already use a lot of Amazon's services.  

[GardenStream]

I got the Nook Touch and I really like it. I wanted something simple that didn't require a wifi connection and was able to read most books. It's been very easy to put my own books as well as library books onto it.