A few years ago when the first eBook readers starting hitting the shores of the UK I was mildly interested. I think the main model catching the attention of the media was the Sony PRS-505. It was fairly impressive from a gadget point of view, but when I tried opening a PDF of a book I was reading at that time (password protected) it failed to open. In one stroke that signalled the death of my interest in the device.
That was probably about three years ago, and since that time I've kept one eye half open on the eBook reader market, but the high price of books and limited availability has always meant that I've never really bothered considering getting a device again, it's more been a slight interest in the technology.
Today I read that a new model of the Kindle is being launched in the UK (i.e. from Amazon.co.uk) directly with a 3G and Wi-Fi only version available, which has resurrected my interest once again. There's a few books I need to buy, and even more I already have as PDFs, so do I take the plunge for situations where a laptop is less than ideal?
Two things remain that are putting me off:
1. eBooks are still too expensive. Amazon are discounting at the moment, but as with printed books the deals will slowly fade over time I imagine. Looks like the publishers learnt nothing from the mistakes made by the music industry.
2. I still don't know if all my PDF files will open in the reader.
That said, there is a wealth of free books out there, so that may help sway me. The other driving force is the fact that many of my text books weigh more than the laptop, so it's not nice carting them around.
Either way, it's not going to be on my pre-order list, so I have time to save and read some reviews.
Is now a good time to start bleating on about touch screens again.... yes I know you can get the kindle reader for the iPad, but another selling point for me is the e-ink screen. There's also the price.
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