Archive for August 4th, 2007

6.  How much money are you willing to put into it (Better known as Latest and greatest vs. older reader)?  .  Some people have to have the newest gadget as soon as it hits the streets.  Being an early adopter comes with the burden of paying hefty prices and working out the bugs of new devices.  Other folks are more patient and can wait until the price drops.  Fortunately for e-book tech lovers we don’t need or require the latest device.  There are drawbacks.  The drawbacks of legacy (older) devices is that tech support is often not available, replacement parts and accessories are scarce, and there are no updates to look forward to.  For first time buyers I suggest getting a device that is still being manufactured and from a solid company.  Doing so will at least give you some warranty protection and tech support.  Either way decide beforehand how much you want to invest based on your individual needs.  Prices range from $100 to just under $400.  Remember there is no right or wrong here.  Readers are for your enjoyment.  If you are happy with it, that’s what matters.  Not what the guy or gal next to you is using.  Look for online deals.  Often there are specials or other discounts like a coupon for free books.  If at all possible get your hands on a reader and try it out before you buy.  The Sony reader is available in stores so you can at least play around with the display.   This is also true with PDAs.  For other readers try your local libraries.  Ask if they have e-book readers available for check out.  You may be pleasantly surprised.

7.  Get online and join E-book communities and forums:  By joining online communities you can get honest reviews from peers.  That’s real life people, not famous critics.  Read through message archives and see how other feel about the device, software, and tech support.  It’s my experience that the peer support and knowledge from these online groups is invaluable and better than any retailer or manufacturer.  Not only are e-bookers friendly they are eager to help and will answer any questions that you may have.  There are e-book forums on Yahoo!, Google, and my favorite site is Mobileread. There are probably more out there so do a Google search.

Finally, have fun and enjoy reading.  In future posts I will go into detail about the various devices that can be used to read e-books.  Even if it doesn’t perform right out of the box, there is still a wealth of information that can help you make this an enjoyable experience and I will tell you how to access it.