The hand wringing over eReaders and eBooks

I'm going to step out of my comfort zone here and get confrontational ... hee-hee.

There are an awful lot of opinions floating around these days over eReaders. Some of it is from people that have physically seen, touched and tried one (through friends or retail stores), some of it is from people that actually own one, but a lot of it is from people that have done neither. Some see these as wonderful, environmentally friendly devices, others see them as the complete demise of books as well as the publishing industry. I suspect that the truth lies somewhere in the middle. Just as we have not abandoned our 42" flat-screen TVs for laptops, I seriously doubt that we'll all, every last one of us, completely ditch our beautiful bookcases with all of those beautifully bound (and not so beautifully bound) volumes of knowledge, pictures, and stories for a 9x5 piece of plastic and metal.

The publishing industry appears to be pretty anti-eBook, which is a bit odd because, while it does hurt their 40% retail store margin, it also reduces their production and inventory costs (which, in turn, reduces overhead and their carbon footprint). And, with DRM (digital rights management protection) it pretty much reduces or eliminates the secondary/used book market, that also hurts their profits and is something the industry at large has been whining about and fighting for years, especially in the textbook market. You'd think they'd all be jumping for joy.

There seemed to be an awful lot of complaining about Amazon setting the prices for eBooks but there doesn't seem to be the same outrage over Apple setting the prices, which now appears to be the case as it is their higher prices for eBooks that started the firestorm over eBook pricing in the publishing industry in the first place.

Now, I don't necessarily need to be president to have an opinion about whether I approve of the job he's doing or not (which, by the way I do approve of the job he's trying to do) but I certainly wouldn't listen to my opinion as a way to make a voting or any other political decision. Nor would I expect anyone I know to actually go out and buy the type of car I own. I'd go to the source, read their material, and find myself some experts. Now sure, going to the source is going to get you a certain amount of "advertorializing" (did I just make up a word...), but I'd kick the tires a little and then decide. I certainly wouldn't rely on any news outlet with ratings agenda.

Sorry, I digressed a bit. So, I would recommend that anyone exploring the possibility of purchasing an eReader like the Kindle,iPad, nook or Sony Reader make sure that they read posts and reviews from people that actually own one or those who have extensively tried one.

Some have free wireless access, some have paid wireless access or no access at all. Most of them have some multi-function capabilities (MP3 listening), some have replaceable batteries and memory cards, some don't. Most of them allow you to make notes or highlight content as well as having a look-up feature for that word you're not quite sure of. Generally, they all (at least for now since there's no set standard) lock you into purchasing newly published books from the same company you purchased the device from. All of them have the ability to download books in the public domain (have a hankering to read The Scarlett Pimpernel or The Cricket on the Hearth?) from free online sources such as Feedbooks or the much-touted Google Books.

There's also a lot of complaining about eBook standards also but we seem to co-exist these days pretty well with both Apple and Microsoft. We also still have BlackBerry, iPhone and Palm and they co-exist and interact relatively comfortably also (okay well maybe not so comfortably but you can't have everything). Like any breakthrough technology it will take a little while for the dust to settle but long term, some genius will find a way for us to be able to use whatever machine we like in whatever way we like and make it easy for them to politely co-exist. You say tomAto, I say tomAHto......

They're not for everyone. I love mine, but I'm not about to burn any of my printed books or tear down my gorgeous custom made bookcases anytime soon, if ever. If you're an occasional reader or the reading you do is scientific-type journals, graphic novels, cookbooks, coffee table books, etc., then an eReader probably isn't for you. But if you read A LOT (1-2 books a week) and prefer non-fiction and fiction, are a book buyer not a book borrower, can't stand getting your New York Times or Washington Post 3 days late; then the cost of an eReader and the books themselves (even with the current eBook price hikes by Hachette and Macmillan) makes them a perfect adjunct to all of those other books sitting on your shelves. And if a new device is still too expensive there are plenty of used one popping up out there.

But don't take my word for it. Check them out for yourself.