Tagged: ereader

Discussion: Your Favourite Type of eReader

I’ve never claimed to be a huge tech fan so it took me a long time to get an ereader for myself.  And I’ve honestly never looked back since.  It’s so much more convenient than reading on a computer and it stores a great deal of books for all those times when I’m stuck in waiting rooms or airports.

I asked my readers for ereader suggestions and they were overwhelmingly for Kindles.  I had a modest budget (preferably under $150) so I got a Kindle Paperwhite.  It’s nothing fancy, there’s no colour or anything but it works for my purposes: reading ebooks authors send me.  Well, and adding the odd free book on Amazon to it.  I love how the screen doesn’t look so much like a screen (it actually looks like the page of a book) and I can read on my Kindle for hours without straining my eyes.  The battery doesn’t last as long as advertised because I use it a lot, but I was surprised at how long it actually does last.  Overall I’d say I’m pretty happy with my little Kindle Paperwhite.

What I want to know now is this: Do you have an ereader?  If so, what type?  What are some things you like about it?  Is there anything you don’t like about it?  Let me know in the comments below!

My First eReader: Thoughts and Observations

Carrie Pictures 2013 006Yes, today I bought my Kindle Paperwhite!  I was a little skeptical walking into the store, but after playing around on the display one and liking what I saw, I decided I really was going to buy it after all.  Of course, being really excited about my purchase I’ve already spent a couple hours on it.  So here are my thoughts and observations about it, in no particular order:

1.  It’s really light!

This is great because some days I can’t handle holding heavy books.  One of the advantages of this is that I can hold it comfortably in almost every position and that it doesn’t weigh much at all.

2.  The screen is really easy on the eyes.

I was really pleasantly surprised at how much the screen looks like the page of a real book.  Being able to adjust the brightness to accommodate different levels of light in different rooms is awesome as well.  And the best part?  Unlike with a computer screen, my eyes don’t get tired after a couple of hours.  So now I can read ebooks just as quickly as I read physical books, a great bonus for all of the authors on my waiting list.

3.  Even PDFs look pretty good on it.

Before getting my ereader my preferred file choice was a PDF and I was a little worried about transferring them over to my Kindle.  However, I was pleasantly surprised at how good they look on the screen.  The writing is a little small, but that’s really only a temporary problem.  Most writers in the future will have access to .mobi files and if not, the occasional PDF won’t kill me.

4.  It’s convenient.

I still prefer physical books if I’m keeping them for my own reading pleasure, but for authors sending me books the Kindle Paperwhite is perfect.  Most authors sell through Amazon so they can send me a .mobi file more often than they can send me a PDF.  In addition to that, I can take my ereader wherever I want and not be limited by how bad my back pain is on a given day.  Now I have no excuse to procrastinate on my In Progress list!

So to everyone who recommended ereaders for me, thank you so much.  I know now that I made the right decision and that the Kindle Paperwhite is perfect for me.  Give yourselves a pat on the back from me, will you?

eReader Update

Well, thank you so much to everyone who suggested eReaders for me!  It was really helpful to see all of the different opinions, especially from people who use eReaders a lot for the same purposes I want to.  Since it would be difficult to respond to all 18 of the comments I received from you awesome people, I thought it would just be easier to announce my decision here on the blog.

I’m getting a Kindle Paperwhite.  It seems to be the best choice and was the most frequently recommended one in the comments section.  It’s also far below my budget of $200 and has great memory capacity for my purposes.  I won’t be buying many ebooks from the Kindle store, but it will be so useful to take my reading with me wherever I go rather than being glued to the computer for hours at a time.  With the amount I read I doubt it will have the 8 week battery life that they say it does, but that’s not really an issue at this point.  What matters is that it’s light, small, has an easy to read screen and it’s the most convenient for my purposes.

When I’m getting the Kindle I’m not really sure, but it will be sometime this year.  But let me say thank you so much to everyone who put in a suggestion.  It was awesome to hear suggestions from people I trust!  I don’t honestly know how I could have done it without you.

I Need an eReader

I’ve given you guys lots of book recommendations over the year and a half I’ve been blogging, which is why I’m turning to you now: I need an eReader.  In light of my little health problem that makes it hard to sit in one place for a long time, I can no longer stand to read books on my computer.  Therefore, an eReader is the perfect solution.  But to be perfectly honest, I have no idea where to start.  All I really know is that I have a few pre-requisites for an eReader:

1.  It must be a Kindle because indie authors who contact me are generally selling their books through Amazon.

2.  It must be light so I can hold it even on bad days.

3.  It must be under or only slightly over $200.

So, what do you think I should get?  Why?