Electronic book readers - anyone got one?

[timey]

I looked into these today as I actually fancied one as the technology is supposed to have got to a stage where the readers are easy to read and display print as though it was on paper.

However, reading up on them, the reviews are rubbish. It seems that the "like print on paper" claim is spurious - most of the reviewers of the acclaimed Sony Touch eReader say that it is dull and difficult to read. They also say that it has a reflective screen, which causes problems reading it. Surely to simulate printed paper it should be a matt screen, but reflective screens seem to be the "in thing" at the moment.

Another criticism seems to be that they regularly freeze up. This is another bugbear of mine with new technology. So many of them freeze up regularly, from the Sky box to the iPod. Surely we should be getting these things right by now if we want people to embrace new technology and electronic formats?

So, I'm gonna hold off getting one of these until the technology improves to a more reliable and attractive state. Also, the price is way too hight at the moment, especially as the things seem to be far from perfect. For those prices I want perfection and something to inspire me, not these ill thought-out and cobbled-together gadgets that are next to useless really in their present state but are being put out as desirable items by money-grabbing organisations like Sony. Get the technology right first, then entice us with the goodies.

[Ck]

I don't fancy one, I like the feel and smell of proper books. Plus, I like to use a bookmark.

[timey]

Me too, but I thought it'd be handy for going on holiday and apparently you get something like 100 classic titles free. I haven't read many (or any really) classic and it would have been a good way to try them out. And I needed an idea for a birthday prezzie. Ah well, another one up the spout. I can't get the NFL shirt(s) that I want either.

[Ck]

Hmmmm what about a DS and Brain Training instead?

[timey]

Got one already.

[playme]

yes but like mini demic have you got the choice of over 500 games and on her cartridge she has in it know have nearly 100 games

[Ck]

How about a light saber?

[timey]

yes but like mini demic have you got the choice of over 500 games and on her cartridge she has in it know have nearly 100 games

Errrm, what do you think?

I'm thinking of an Amazon Kindle now.

[timey]

How about a light saber?

Only if it's a real one that I can slice people in two with.

And it's got to make that funny noise.

[mimseycal]

I'm with CK ... nothing can beat the weight of a book in your hands, the feel of it and the smell of it ... the rustle of paper as you turn a page ... the tingle of excited anticipation as you first open the cover of a book and the sigh of ... regret if it is a good book, relief if it is a bad'n ... when you turn that final page ...

I do occasionally have to forgo the sheer physical enjoyment of reading because after certain treatments my hands and arms can get too weak to hold a book for long. I rely then on audio books which is not quite the same thing but at least my imagination and my mind is fed.