The E-Reader Delima

So I am going to stray from the review genre for this post. I just wanted to put my experience out there on the subject of e-readers. If anyone else is going through what I did, and looking for a good e-reader solution, then read on...

I consider myself a technical person, although not a total computer geek. I have run through the gauntlet of e-readers in the past several years, spending way more money than I wanted to - and having to manage multiple software products, locations, file transfers, etc.  I burned through Sony, Nook, Kindle, iBooks. I used Calibre software, Adobe, Stanza, Smashwords, e-Books.com and more. It was a pain in the a$$ to say the least.

So my ultimate solution after all that time and moolah?  Kindle for iPad + iPad

At first, I was resistant to the idea of an e-reader all together. I love reading outside, in the bathtub, in the hot tub, and all kinds of other places I don't really want to take an expensive electronic.  Plus, there is something to be said about the tactile sensation of holding weight and paper in your hands to read a book.  However the benefit of a back-light, cloud library, and seamless updates won out.

Why Kindle for iPad?

Selection: Amazon has the best selection of ebooks I've found. All my mainstream favorites, and new, self-published authors. Plus, they are cheap.

Synergy:  Gotta love the cloud. I have a laptop, a desktop, an iPhone, an iPad, and a Kindle(older). But with the Kindle app on my computers and iDevices, I can read the same book in multiple locations - each updating as soon as it connects to a network. I'm on the couch reading a great book, but then I have to get in the car for a trip to the market (no I'm not driving). On the way, I whip out my iPhone, and pick up exactly on the page I left off. Then when I get back home, I can go into my office, begin paying bills - and pull up the kindle app on my second monitor.  Again - I'm on the exact page I left off on on the iPhone. It's smooth,, easy, and not that expensive.

 So why the + iPad?

For those books you can get cheaper, free, or only through other applications - Stanza, iBooks, Smashwords - they all have apps for the iPad.

Not trying to sound like a sales pitch, but when I think about my e-reader experience - I am now giggly happy, as opposed to confused and frustrated... and I just thought I'd share :)

-Rita

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