Our technology columnist eyes up e-book readers.
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With the Amazon Kindle selling alongside groceries in Countdown and kitset furniture maker Ikea redesigning bookshelves to hold anything other than books, it is clear the time of the e-book has well and truly come.
But those delving into e-books face a bit of a dilemma – do you buy a dedicated reader or rely on a tablet computer or smartphone equipped with e-book software?
E-books have been a revelation to me. I am reading more books than ever thanks to the convenience of the format, discovering excellent new writers, many of whom are publishing their books only in digital form, and have worked my way through a mountain of free fiction – both out-of-copyright classics and giveaways I’ve seen flagged on Facebook or Twitter.
I’ve done all this without buying a dedicated e-book reader like the Kobo or Sony Reader, or their rival the Kindle, which has finally hit retail stores here two years after Amazon began selling it internationally.
Apple’s original iPad is my e-book reader and, using the Kindle app, I connect to Amazon’s digital bookstore to buy digital copies of books. That’s right, the Kindle is a device, but you can also use its free software on regular computers as well as on Apple and Google Android phones and tablets. I also access the Kobo bookstore and use the Kobo e-book reader app, which I find the best of those available on the iPad in terms of usability.
Last-minute purchases of overpriced paperbacks in airport terminal shops have been replaced by quick downloads from the Amazon Kindle and Kobo stores. It all works like a dream, but for one thing – the glare of the iPad’s crisp, bright screen gives me a headache after I’ve been reading for more than 30 minutes or so. It’s no better with the sleeker iPad 2.
I’ve done everything to try to get around it: adjusted screen brightness and tint, used e-book software that lets me change the colour of the digital paper, increased the font size, held the iPad further from my face. I’ve even slapped on one of those anti-glare covers that just serves to make everything look distractingly murky. I soon discarded it.
Typically a dull ache would set in at the half-hour mark. But the final straw was a marathon session reading an old favourite, Moby Dick. I ignored the grittiness behind the eyelids until a weird pulsing sensation in my left eyeball alerted me that all was not right. It took paracetomol and a night’s sleep to come right.
Last weekend, I gave in and bought a Kindle 3G for $289 (the Wi-Fi-only model is $209). What made me feel better about cluttering up my life with yet another gadget was that the Kindle cost about the same as the difference between buying the base iPad model that I own and the iPad 3G, which connects over the cellular network. The grey scale e-ink that displays the text on the Kindle does not use a backlit screen, so eye strain is diminished. There are other advantages, too: the Kindle is lighter and easier to hold than the larger-format iPad and its matt screen reads better in bright places.
The lengthy battery life of e-book readers (the Kindle’s is claimed to last a month with half an hour of reading a day) is the other major advantage over tablet and smartphone e-book readers. For me there are only two contenders in the e-book device market, the Kindle and Kobo, and the Kindle has the edge. That’s down to the Amazon store, which has the most books and great customer reviews.
But the device is also better designed and has a physical keypad, which comes in useful, as the Kindle also functions as a dictionary and allows you to surf the web. I’m able to sync my Amazon book purchases across the Kindle and the iPad. The Kobo is more flexible in terms of the book formats it supports, something that puts it slightly ahead as libraries gear up to lend e-books. Think of that – no more overdue fees; your e-book will simply disappear off your device.
If you are the sort of person who dips into a book during the work commute or for a couple of chapters before lights out at night, consider a tablet. On the other hand, the Kindle and Kobo are at least $200 cheaper than entry-level tablets, so if all the other functionality of tablet computing doesn’t appeal and you are susceptible to eye strain, a dedicated e-book reader is the right choice. Then there are the fools like me with both.