How to Simplify Life with an Ebook Reader

A few months ago, I purchased a Sony PRS-505 ebook reader, a slim device that is a little taller and wider than a trade paperback novel.

To people who don’t own an ebook reader, it can seem a frivolous purchase. Why on earth would you need an electronic device for reading, for example? My answer to that is simply convenience. You probably own a computer and a television, neither of which you actually need, yet they are a convenience to you. And if you have any size of a book collection at all, I would argue that you could save huge amounts of space by making the switch to an ebook reader.

The next question out of most people’s mouths is then, why didn’t you buy a Kindle? It’s true that Amazon’s ebook reader has been very heavily marketed, but I had a few issues with it. First of all, it has a keyboard. Normal books do not come with keyboards, and I wanted my reading experience to feel as much like reading a book as possible. Having that unnecessary keyboard also makes the Kindle bigger and more unwieldy than it should be.

Second, the Kindle reader only reads a proprietary Amazon book format created especially for the Kindle. I support open formats so that readers are not arbitrarily restricted by the limitations of their ebook reader as to what book formats they can purchase and use. The Sony PRS-505 reads the popular open format EPUB and Sony LRF ebook formats, as well as RTF, PDFs, TXT, providing much more versatility when you are looking for a certain book in ebook format.

A final point I should make is that reading on an ebook reader is not like reading on a computer screen, and that is to the good. There is no eyestrain-inducing backlight on ebook readers, for one. For another, the technology behind ebook reader screens produces a screen that looks a lot like – well, paper. It’s really easy to read off of, plus people with poor vision can adjust the font sizes on the reader itself, so in many ways an ebook reader is much easier on your eyes.

If you are comfortable enough with technology to make the switch to an ebook reader, you can open up space in your home previously taken up by bulky books. The Sony ebook reader holds almost 200 books easily, plus you can buy additional memory cards for the ebook reader. For travelers, ebooks readers can save you money on airline fees by weighing less than one traditional hardback book.

Though there will always be some books I prefer to read in traditional paper format, I have definitely enjoyed the convenience and portability of having my favorite books with me all the time, whether I’m flying, traveling, or just stuck in a line somewhere.

If you want more information, I have written a  full, feature-by-feature comparison of the Kindle 2 and the Sony 505 ebook readers.

Tags: books, ebook readers, reading

This entry was posted on Wednesday, July 15th, 2009 at 8:58 pm and is filed under Products. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.