To eBook or Not to eBook

Had some questions come in after yesterdays Blog post and thought I would cough up my personal response.

Do you read eBooks and on what?

Of course I read eBooks. I have been reading eBooks for a little over 10 years now. Echelon was one of the early companies that sold our books as eBooks. Back then we did email transfers and CD-roms in DVD cases. It was expensive and time-consuming because we did them ourselves. Oy! We've come a long way since then. While some of our authors choose to put their eBooks on disc for the convenience of their readers, we no longer do it as a company.

However, with the progress in the industry, it is easier than ever for readers to enjoy the pleasures of reading an eBook. As to what I read on, I do most of my book reading on my beloved Kindle. Back in the day, I bought a Nook so I could check the quality of our eBooks before they went up for sale on BN.com and various other sites. I soon discovered that I wasn't as comfortable reading on the Nook as I thought I would be. So I got myself a Kindle. Just to check it out, you see. It was love at first read.

Why I love my Kindle:

Lightweight. My kindle weighs a little over 8 ounces and is quite thin. In my opinion, this makes it easier to hold.

Keyboard. I don't use it often, but I do like that my Kindle has an actual keyboard for typing in my notes and such. The separate and raised button allow for much better accuracy.

Page turners. On either side of my Kindle are actual buttons that you push to turn the pages. One for forward and one for backward.

Storage space. My Kindle has 4 gb of space. They say this is 3500 books. I have not been able to test this, but I sure am trying hard.

Battery. This baby can hold a charge. I have had it for months and have only charged it 4 or 5 times. I use it quite frequently and to be honest, I am surprised I have not had to charge it more often.

File accessibility. This is a big one for me. My Kindle not only reads the designated file type (which is Mobi), but also pdf, html, txt, it allows several different graphic formats like jpg, bmp, and png. But the thing I love most about my Kindle is that is plays mp3 files and I can download my Audible.com books onto it to listen. I can tell you that right now, aside from actual books to read, I have about 50 unabridged audiobooks and the Pimsluer Course to learn to speak Urdu. Whhhoooo baby! There are several other formats it recognizes, but I got tired of listing them.

Why the Nook is just okay:

My Nook weighs in a little under 12 ounces. That's a good size steak, people. And the newer models are even heavier. This makes it awkward for people with hand issues like arthritis, or whatever.

My Nook has a touch screen and quite honestly, I find them difficult to use. The very small screen on the bottom makes it annoyingly difficult to type, especially if you have healthy fingers. Getting the damn touch screen to come up is a whole nother issue.

My Nook has two arrows painted on either side of the device that indicate you should push there to turn the page. Again, no actual button and if you don't hit it right on, you have to try again, and sometimes again.

My Nook has 2 gb of space, which is supposed to be 1500 books. Haven't hot that either. Newer models have more space.

My Nook will actually hold a charge for about 8 days before I have to hook the baby up. It is even less if I actually use it.

My Nook, being an older models recognizes ePub, pdb, pdf, jpg, gif, bmp, and mp3 files, but I honestly have never been able to figure out how to get one of the damn mp3 files to play on it. Could be user error, but that says something about the device, too. At least in my opinion.

Now, neither of my devices are backlit, and this is okay for me. I'm not allowed to read in the dark anyways. I do have a Kandle, a light for my Kindle. I tried to find a book light for the Nook, but the thickness made it hard and the one I got would not stay clipped on securely.

Neither of my devices have AT&T access. They are straight wi-fi, and this has worked fine for me. I do most of my eBook buying from home anyways.

Buy at Kindle Now!

Keep in mind that these are just my opinions on the two devices and there are several other eBook readers out there that you may like better. For those of you who don't want to buy an eReader, but find yourself wanting to read a book that only comes in eBook, then you have a couple of options. I am not familiar with all of them, but I know that Kindle has a desktop application that syncs up with the device and your Kindle account. So you can read that book on your computer. And while a lot of people say, "I don't want to read on my computer." You read on your computer all the time, otherwise you wouldn't be on it as much as you are. You are reading on your computer right now, so find another excuse for not giving eBooks a try. You choose when and how long you read, so it's not really that big of an inconvenience. Right?

I hope this has helped some of you who have been waffling about buying an eReader. And FYI, Wal-Mart has the older model wi-fi only for under $120.00. I believe the least expensive Nook is around $140.00.

I would love to know what the rest of you are reading on or why you simply won't give eBooks a chance. And there is no right or wrong answer, I am just curious. And before you go defending print books and how wonderful they smell. Yeah yeah yeah. I love print books, too. Still publish them, and still read them. The smell? Not as much of a hook for me with my allergies. But I get it.