The Best eBook Readers
I have always maintained that an eBook reader makes a lot of economical and ecological sense. Reading books in their electronic form means that you are buying and creating that much less demand for paper and ink books, saving trees and other resources used in the manufacturing process.
Then there is the fact that an eBook can be cheaper to buy and always easier to carry than the hundreds of books it can contain! Also the benefit of being able to not just read books but, magazines, broadsheets and tabloids on there; and being able to refer to the dictionary and encyclopedia while you’re at it!
The top recommended eBook readers are the Amazon Kindle Touch, the Amazon Kindle Fire, the Barnes & Noble Nook Simple, the Kobo and the Sony eBook readers.
Features to look for I am looking for something that has a lot of content available from the dedicated service that the reader is available from. Then I have to figure out whether I want the e-ink technology (lets you read easily in the sunlight) or the LCD screen. Then I have to figure out whether it is a touch screen that I want or not. Battery life is another crucial factor to look at. Another thing to look at is the additional features that the reader has: does it have audio? Does it support 3G? Browsing? Can I listen to music as well?
The Amazon Kindle has three versions: The Basic Kindle (or Kindle Keyboard for $79), Kindle Touch ($99) and Kindle Fire ($199). The basic Kindle doesn’t have the touch screen, but when you look at the price you are able to forgive quite a lot. The Kindle Touch has text to speech, audio books and mp3 support. You can also look up historical references, difficult words and phrases, and a whole lot besides.
Kindle fire has web browsing, a lot of apps including games access to movies and a lot else such as graphic novels and magazines in full color.
If you don’t want ads you have to pay extra with Kindle.
The Barnes and Noble eBook Reader and Kobo are also competitively priced at $99, but they do not have 3G or audio support. They do have an expandable memory slot however.
The Sony costs $129 and has audio support. All the eBook readers have battery life of more than one month (except fire, which is actually a fully fledged tablet and not just a reader).
So clearly there are plusses and minuses in each case. As of now I am genuinely confused. Thoughts?
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