As someone who is routinely asked "WHAT are you carrying in here?" let me just say, I love traveling with my eBook reader. I think this is where it really shines as a piece of technology. On a trip of this length, I rarely travel with fewer than three books and a few magazines. On this trip, I just brought the eBook reader with a few novels loaded onto it. As you'll note from the photos, it's even smaller than a small Penguin.
Although I'd thoughtfully loaded my reader with several novels before I left, I had a few lingering doubts as my train left Windsor. Just as I arrived at the station, it began to rain. There was something about rain and trains that got me thinking about England. And that had me craving a particular kind of British novel. I hooked up my eBook reader to my laptop and downloaded H.E. Bates The Darling Buds of May on the train from Kobo before we'd reached the city limits. If I hadn't been a convert before, this trip would have made me one: it fits in my purse and gives me a seemingly limitless choice of books. And it's cute and red. What's not to like about that?
A few other things people have asked me about: it's really comfortable to hold and read for long stretches and the adjustable font size offers some nice options about how and where you can hold it. Also, the battery lasts a long time between charges. I charged it fully before I left and the battery not only lasted the entire return train trip, many hours of reading here and there and a whole day's reading today. And, it's still half-charged.
My only complaint (and this is the one I also make about my HP netbook) is coming from my years using Macs: what's with the cord??? As with my netbook, this strikes me as a major design oversight. Ahem.
Two other semi-related things: on this trip, I got to see a Kobo reader-- they're pretty nice, especially for the price (149 Canadian). It doesn't have all the functionality of the Sony but it would be well worth looking at if you're in the market for an e-Reader. And though I've come to love my eBook reader, I should say that I ended up buying a print novel while in Toronto for all the lovely, tactile, aesthetic reasons one buys books. This new Bloomsbury series had me hooked in minutes.
No comments:
Post a Comment