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Original poster

Is anyone else going to buy a sony reader?

46 replies

fishnet · 04/09/2008 18:06

I'm in love. I never ever buy gadgets but I have to have one. The thought of being able to carry around 160 books has really excited me!

DH thinks I'll never use it.

Is anyone else tempted?

OP posts:
Califrau · 04/09/2008 18:07

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Niecie · 04/09/2008 18:09

I was telling DH about them, following a thread on here but at £200 each we thought it was a bit steep.

We are having a bet with ourselves that they will be available somewhere for £100 by this time next year and then they might be birthday present price and I would probably get one for DH then.

Great idea though. Very space saving for holidays and for bookcase space.

I don't suppose you can have heavily illustrated books on there though, not yet anyway.

Original poster
fishnet · 04/09/2008 18:11

me too. I love books. But I'm always completely laden with files and papers and can't also carry around books. being able to have one little device that I can put all of my case notes onto plus use as an MP3 player plus loading whole books onto just makes me swoon. I'll be able to read all day!

OP posts:
RubberDuck · 04/09/2008 18:11

I'm waiting on the kindle.

Original poster
fishnet · 04/09/2008 18:13

I agree Niecie that they will probably come down in price very quickly.

I want one before my holiday though - save me taking the usual six books

OP posts:
Twiglett · 04/09/2008 18:16

absolutely not .. I'm rather disgusted by them tbh .. takes the soul out of books

Original poster
fishnet · 04/09/2008 18:16

Is the kindle the wireless one?

That would be very handy

OP posts:
Original poster
fishnet · 04/09/2008 18:17

How does it take the soul out of books? Surely its about the words not the paper?

OP posts:
BecauseImWorthIt · 04/09/2008 18:17

Not quite so good for reading in the bath though.

seeker · 04/09/2008 18:17

I love books too - but I also love gadgets!

There are no plans for the Kindle to be available in the UK - anyone know why?

Twiglett · 04/09/2008 18:18

no I think there's a sensory element in reading and turning pages .. a smell, a feel .. you can't get that from a screen

I really really hate them, I think they'll bomb

Original poster
fishnet · 04/09/2008 18:19

good point about the bath

It will be great for me though. I currently have to carry a statute book the size and weight of two bricks with me wherever I go.

OP posts:
Marina · 04/09/2008 18:20

Certainly not!
Professional scepticism (am librarian) triumphs over passion for gadgetry on this occasion

Twiglett · 04/09/2008 18:20

Books have a life of their own

old musty bookshops
bookshelves laden with years of books you've read
boxes of books in the attics
handing on a loved book to a friend
reading in the bath, on the toilet
leaving books lying around the house
finding a bargain in a charity shop, opening it and realising there's notes in the margins
reading the dedications in gifts
the feeling of breaking the spine
the turning of the page
the lack of back-lit glare damaging the eyes

Twiglett · 04/09/2008 18:21

visiting people's houses and browing their bookshelves

Saturn74 · 04/09/2008 18:22

No!

Saw one in Waterstones yesterday.
They do look great.

But nothing can compare to turning real pages.

And it would make my torn up cereal packet bookmark redundant, and that would never do.

Marina · 04/09/2008 18:22

fishnet, if you think books are always just about the words you need to get onto the Folio Society or the Persephone Press websites and buy yourself a book-as-artefact vvvv quickly!
Or nip over to the British Library and look at some of the gorgeous books that have been created since the days of the Lindisfarne Gospels
You have been spending too much time with statute books, horrible boring things...

Original poster
fishnet · 04/09/2008 18:23

They are not back lit.

No one is suggesting they replace books. They are just another way of reading.

OP posts:
Twiglett · 04/09/2008 18:24

how do you see the words?

Blandmum · 04/09/2008 18:24

Fishnet, I agree with you about the holiday thing. I'm always terrified of sunning out of books on holiday, and because I go camping I'm limited for space. Would be great for holiday

Original poster
fishnet · 04/09/2008 18:26

I love books and have hundreds including first editions which I love. I'm not anti book I just think that as gadgets go its a good one and being able to read ebooks in an easy form (whihc hasn't really been an option until now) can only be a good thing.

I do however think that books are about words.

OP posts:
Marina · 04/09/2008 18:28

Holidays and commuting, granted
It looks very good compared to the Kindle, which I was not so impressed with tbh

Original poster
fishnet · 04/09/2008 18:29

Not entirley sure how it works twiglett but its some whizzy new technology. They are not backlit so you can't read them without a light source. You can read them in the sun becaue of that

OP posts:
Twiglett · 04/09/2008 18:31

ahhh e-ink technology .. it looks pretty cool

but I still don't like it

I am not an early adopter of this kind of thing .. but maybe will see it's value in years to come

of course the whole charging / power outtage would pee me right off .. particularly as it will no doubt happen 3 pages before the end

expatinscotland · 04/09/2008 18:38

no.

i prefer books.