I swear I never would, but I did. I’ve gone over to the dark side. I bought an eReader.
Obviously, books have played a big part of my life. I was an English Literature major in university, and my love for books has continued to grow over the years. I love seeing a bookcase brimming with old favourites, or a stack waiting to be enjoyed on a nightstand.
Somehow a virtual ‘library’ didn’t quite seem the same. So it was with some reluctance that I finally decided to buy an eReader (I’ll reveal which one a little later on!). One of the reasons I took the plunge is because I’m quickly running out of room. I’ve got a bookshelf filled to capacity, as well as an entertainment unit containing some of my larger volumes. Now they’re taking up other surfaces such as occasional tables. There’s even a Rubbermaid tub filled with titles I can’t bear to part with. With an eReader (and a computer), physical space isn’t a concern…these little devices hold more books than you could read in a year!
In addition to the lack of physical space, cost was also a factor. Good Lit major that I am, I have a passion for the classics. Most of these books have fallen into the public domain, and can be downloaded for free. Anything from Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice, to Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol is available at your fingertips for nothing!
I decided to invest in the Kobo, and bought one from Chapters (I believe Kobo is also the device of choice for Borders in the States). I installed the software on my laptop and went to town. Earlier in the year I had purchased some eBooks to read on my desktop from Barnes and Noble. Their eReader of choice is the Nook. I mistakenly believed that I could port over the titles I purchased there onto my Kobo. Wrong. Had I done my research I would have learned that each device uses a different file type that renders them unreadable on their competing eReaders.
I also quickly realized that this would prove to be troublesome in other ways. The Kobo book selection isn’t as comprehensive as Amazon’s Kindle. For instance, last Tuesday a book that I had been dying to read was published. I took for granted that it would be released as an eBook. It was, but Kobo wasn’t offering it in their catalogue. Because of my impatience, I had to overnight the physical book from Amazon.
Because of this, I decided to invest in a new eReader. I ordered a Kindle this weekend, and am looking forward to its arrival. It was a costly mistake, but I’m glad that I’ll be using a product with such a wide selection of titles. I wish the Kobo was comparable in that respect, because I truly like the product. The design is very sleek and uncomplicated, and I quickly became a convert of reading books on an eReader device. While nothing can quite replace the joy of reading a real book, that unmistakable smell and breaking in a new book, the eReader has its on benefits. I hope you can learn from my costly mistake, and I’ll update you all soon on how the Kindle device compares.
