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A reply of Silvio in another topic about books being to have to take with on holidays made me think of E-Readers. For the ones who haven't heard of it: It's a small digital device (Screen size of 4"-6" (?) ) on which you can read e-books and other digital files, on several formats.

Silvio has a very good point where he mentions the weight/size of a book as a 'treshold' of wether or not taking a book with you. In such cases... an e-reader could bring the solution , because it is pocket sized and it can handle several books. The technology is developed far enough to have a good screen (with "e-ink" technology), which makes it seem that you read from paper in stead of a screen.
Of course it also has downsides, like the way you hold it; there's less to hold , can't flip to the pages as easily and ofcourse the price. And... your bookshelf isn't so welfilled as it could be...but despite of these points, I think it can be a very smart device, when you have to go somewhere you can't take much with you and you have a lot of books in one small package.

I am sort of considering buying one, but before I do, there have to be some more e-books of the books I like to read, otherwise, it's still not that usefull

So, what's your thought on this device? Is it a 'revolution' in reading - can it replace the 'real' book? Ever thought of using one?

^writing in your books? :O I don't know where you learnt that , books have a very high status you know!
hmm... btw.. a plus of the e-reader is that you can't get cracks in the side of the book xD, which is always a tragic scene, if I see one of my books that I borrowed to someone is handed in with a fold or crack, while I try to avoid such things

Real books still have a preference for me, but for going on holidays and traveling etc it could be an outcome. I also would still buy the book if I really like it, so for me it'll be a bit of a surplus in stead of replacement

In the airplane from NY to Amsterdam I saw quite some people who had a E-reader. Might have been handy then, because I was carrying 3 not so small books (I somehow always choose books with a minimum of 400-500 pages, in pocket, but still ). It really reduces the size of things you want to bring.

And something quite convenient I saw on the internet recently is the BeBook Neo, a 6" touchscreen E-reader that supports Wifi, so you can go on the internet with your reader . The internet is not so fast yet, but... that's also quite convenient, just pop by in a Starbuckslike shop, and you can send a quick email
And because of the touchscreen you can make notes in your books, yay
And... nowadays there happen to be e-book creators, to make your own ebook files.



http://www.techgadgets.in/img/bebook-neo-ereader.jpg

Audio books can be quite convenient in some occasions, but I still prefer 'normal' reading, in your own way, being able to read the previous sentence or page again if you missed something. And I don't know if I really have the patience for it . On of the audiobooks I have, Ice Station by Mathhew Reilly takes 12-14 hours or so, so it's quite a long while to concentrate
The voice of the narrator also can make an audiobook fail or succeed - e.g. you don't want a plain voice that doesn't put some action in the story

Just look how fancy


Once you've got one... you'll totally get convinced that is actually is a step forward in reading, and you get used to it quite easy. In contrary to what I expected, I don't miss turning the pages at all, especially if you're reading in bed . The only downside is not being able to flip back and forth quickly through some pages, but there is this convenient 'search' option, haha. Batterylife is just great and it is quite an advantage that you can now carry half a library in 1 small device .