Issue 7.11
I splurged for Christmas and bought my wife an Ebook. I decided on the Nook from Barnes and Noble, but the Kindle, Sony Reader and a number of other good ebook readers are available in the $140-$200 range. Nook has also just released their color version for $250, more about that in a moment.
All of these readers have a few things in common. They display black lettering on a white background and they allow you to download books from their websites into the device. Most of them have a long battery use time because they don’t use a lot of power. They go into a type of sleep mode when you are not downloading or searching for new books, but you can still read the pages and turn to new pages in the book you are reading. This is very convenient and enjoyable. The screen size for most of these is seven inches though a few of them are coming out with new 10 inch screens for people who want larger print (at a higher price of course).
In all these products, there is a bit of a learning curve. They don’t respond as quickly or easily as a laptop computer and you have to learn new ways of indicating what you want. Some books are hard to navigate, but when you learn the tricks they are manageable. For example, I downloaded a free collection of 50 classic books for my wife. It includes books by Mark Twain, Tolstoy, Dickens and many others. The only problem is that there is no way to go to a specific place easily because there are 14,214 pages in this collection. Once you learn how to estimate where the book you want is and bookmark the pages once you find them, it is much easier to use. Most books use chapters and excellent tables of contents with links to chapters etc.
The greatest thing is that, with a little unit about the size and weight of a large paperback book, you can carry literally hundreds or even thousands of books with you all the time. In most versions, the screen is not lit so you have to sit in the light or use a book-light just as you would with any regular book, but the convenience of not having to charge the unit up every day is very nice.
It is important to notice whether the unit you are interested in has only Wi-Fi (which hooks up to your wireless network) or if it includes a 3G or 4G connection. This is the same connection that cell phone companies use for their smart phones, but in most cases you don’t have to subscribe to a cellular service or pay any fee to use their connection for your downloads and browsing. The 3G/4G capability usually adds about $50 to the price of the unit. The advent of the color reader from Nook is changing things somewhat. The color display requires more power and uses the battery much more quickly, but it is very nice if you are getting children’s books or other books with illustrations. It is also making graphic art novels (comic books) a possibility for the ebooks which many people have been looking forward to.
Finally, many of these providers make it possible to also download any ebooks you purchase to your other display products at no additional charge. That includes I-pods and I-pads, smart phones and some android tablet devices as well as your home computer. The nook also allows you to “lend” a book you have downloaded to a friend as long as they also have a nook. This is a fun new adventure and I borrow my wife’s ebook often.
Shaun McCausland has been in the computer industry for 29 years (locally with Musicomp & Bits ‘N’ Bytes) and currently does in-home and on-site computer consultation, service, training and repair. If you have questions, you can reach him at 668-7118.