Bookmarks

I love reading. I know some people aren't big fans of it, but spending hours reading a book sounds like a good time to me.

A couple of years ago I bought myself an eBook reader. I prefer real books but this gave me the option to carry lots of books in a small amount of space when I travelled (I like to pack lite). And the e-ink screen is not back lit so it is easy on the eyes, I can read for hours.

For the first time since I got it, I found a problem with it. There was a power issue and it dropped the bookmark on the book I was reading. I was up to around page 350 on a 1100+ page book. :|

The pain with this particular book reader is that it doesn't have a "go to page x" function. So in order to keep reading I have to start at page one and press forward three hundred plus times. :(

But there is a solution! One of the later versions of the software added the 'go to page x' option (someone was smart!) so all I have to do is update the firmware.

Shame I won't be able to do that until I get home. In August. *sigh*

Dead Tree books are dead

Well, I took the plunge and bought a Kobo Wireless.

And I am loving it so far!

It's quite a cute little device, smaller than I originally thought it was going to be. It refreshes the screen very quickly. If I hit "next page" before I finish reading the last line, I'll have time to finish reading the line before the screen goes black and the new text comes up around the same time that my eyes reach the top of the screen.

The e-ink screen is awesome, I'm loving the ability to read for hours on end without eye strain. I downloaded a few free ebooks a while back and tried reading them on my computer, but my eyes became sore and fatigued very quickly. I had to stop after about two hours. Using the internet, browsing and watching videos isn't as big a deal but reading large blocks of text for sustained periods of time is a real hassle.

There are a lot of cheap Chinese pretend readers floating around and I find it amusing that they advertise "yes, in colour - watch video and see photo" as a big selling point - which totally misses the point of an e-reader! TFT or LCD screens won't give you the "read for hours" ability that e-ink will.

Next on the list, get a case for it. The screen is (I assume) fragile and I want to protect it. It may have cost "only" $180, but it's still $180 I'd rather not lose due to something pressing against the screen...