The "It's an e-Reader of a Day" Story

It was an ordinary day. I was enjoying Carol's e-reader. An e-reader is a portable electronic device that is designed primarily for the purpose of reading digital books. For Christmas I got her a Kindle from Amazon.com. I researched all the e-readers to see which one I really wanted to get for her. There are over 30 e-readers and have a variety of prices as well as capabilities. The Apple iPad was really neat, but it was $599 and did exactly what our laptop can do. The Sony reader was only $139 and we talked to someone on the cruise we were on and he told us that he can go to his local library and download any book they have in the library for the cost of his library card. The Barnes and Noble Nook had a color display which would be nice for reading magazines and newspapers. It cost $149. The Kindle had an electronic paper display which reflects light like ordinary paper. Not the backlit flat panel display which is used in some readers as well as laptops, cellular phones and digital cameras. Some e-readers have touch screens while others do not. Was the touch screen a big deal. Not really. I got online and pulled up myfavorite travel forum, TravelTalkOnline.com, and posed the question to the readers of the forum. What reader would be the best for my wife? She will use it athome as well as the beach when we travel. Well, within an hour I had about 25 responses. Over 3/4 of the responses told me to get her the Kindle. Great under sunlight which the Nook and iPad are not. Compact and easy to handle as well as easy to download books from anyplace that has WiFi. Most places we stay in the Caribbean, as well as the Jersey Shore, offer free WiFi with the rental. I was sold on their recommendation. A week before Christmas I ordered the Kindle from Amazon.com. I know I probably waited too long to order, but they promised delivery by Christmas for free. And ..... they came through. No only did I get the e-reader, but I got her a really neat leather case to put it in to try to keep sand out of it in the beach bag. Works really neat. You can search for books by your favorite author or by fiction, non-fiction, religious, research, etc. You can get most daily newspapers by the day or the month. Same with your favorite magazines. One neat feature I like is when you order a book you can get a trial run of two or three chapters to see if youlike it before you pay for the book. One of my favorite authors is Stuart Woods and he had numerous titles that I can't remember if I have read them, so I get the sample to see if I can recognize the book before I buy it. Carol has used it for a few books already, but she has about 40 paperbacks that she needs to read. The e-reader will cut down on the weight of her luggage when we travel, since she usually reads 10-12 paperbacks during a two week stay. The Kindle is extremely light in weight. Using the Kindle will take some time to get used to it, since it's tough getting away from holding a paperback in your hands on the beach Takes away the beach experience. She'll get used to it, I'm sure. For now, she is catching up on her paperbacks while I am reading the latest Stuart Woods thriller on the Kindle. And, I'm really enjoying both my thriller and the e-reader. It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.