From paper to e-reader

I want to share my transition from an hardcore book reader to an e-book fan!

I'm sure at least some of you will find it helpful and will save some of your time.

Flashback:

I'm a book lover and I used to purchase 2-3 books per month (crime/thriller/whodunits only).

Not just any random books though..I have made a masterlist(never ending) which is populated as follows:

1> Award winners (like Edgars,Dagger,McCavity etc)

2> Nominees.

My library contains :

30 Bengali novels/collections

77 English novels

(All neatly covered either with white paper or transparent plastic covers and numbered neatly)

I always wanted to have a huge library but with my ever-growing list I realized that it was practically not possible.

I was heart-broken when I left my Bengali books behind when I moved to Mumbai. I was shattered when I had to leave my English books behind when I moved out of Mumbai.

But the moment I was exposed to the concept of e-readers, I felt maybe that is the future and I need to build an e-book library rather than a 'real' library.

But is it that easy to build an e-book library? Can the e-books really replace the feeling of holding a book in your hand and read? Well, my journey began with these questions in my mind.

Current Time

So the research began..

(I LOVE to research on new gizmo or a new technology, that is better than actually buying the stuff)

Amazon,B&N,I-River,Samsung,Sony, etc all giants have actively ventured into this field and they have different types of product to offer.

Kindle, e-ink, epub, calibre etc are few words I learnt and understood the overall market scenario to some extent.

In the current market, Amazon Kindle is possible the best e-book reader. The paper like e-ink technology, the easily accessible library, easy and quick buying options and a huge collection of books..all makes the Kindle a great product indeed

Initially Kindle was my first choice, but few hindrances!

Problem 1:

I like FREE things..

Free gifts, free dinner etc..

There are a lot of places from where you can get a lot of ebooks...

With Kindle the issue was reading free e-content(also with Nook,Sony reader etc). You can't do that easily and have to rely on their respective store.Also, they don't support all possible formats.

So now I had a bigger dilema..I had to pick something not only by judging the quality of the e-reader but also by the ease/quality of the e-store.

Problem2:

The size!

I feel the 6 inch size is just a bit small.If I want to read news paper or magazines tomorrow, then it wont be handy. Yes, Kindle have a bigger version but that is again a bit too big.

I also considered I-PAD but again found it just a bit too big for portability!

So the search continued...

And then I came to know about Android and e-reading apps!

Just when I was struggling to reach a conclusion and was about to be lost in the world of formats,e-store,free books,lend ur book option etc I saw a Samsung andriod phone ad.

The ad said, you can read ebooks on phone. My initial reaction was, "That is not a big deal! Maybe they have a pdf or word doc reader using which they can read." But then I remembered that the ad showed the guy selecting a book from his virtual library.

I started thinking, it cant be Kindle-store or Nook-store or any other store as they can be accessed ONLY from their own DEVICE.

So it means I can access other stores from Andriod phones using e-reader apps! (For me, this was a big discovery)

I reached one conclusion..I'll buy a reader/device whose OS is Andriod so that I can access any store using various apps available. (so the problem of restricting to one store was over)

But what about the Andriod apps stores? How is their content?

Soon, I came to know about Kobo,Aldiko,Stanza applications and found that they have a decent collection and also offers you to read your own ebook collection!!

So, get a book from anywhere..convert it to EPUB (using the software Calibre) and start reading! Supercool!

My decision of 'not-buying' any device which will restrict access to one particular store was proved right by the following events:

1> Amazon lauching its own 'Kindle-app' and promoting it by saying..."Get this for free, you dont need Kindle(the device)

2> B&N launching new colour 7 inch Nook (Android) and also launching their own B&N app for free!

Overjoyed, I moved on and soon finalized my requirement:

Android device

7-8 inch display, light weight!

Should be able to read black/white and colour.Newpapers/magazines as well.

Night mode option

And the most obvious choice which met all the criteria is...SAMSUNG GALAXY TAB!!

Yes I know that it is not an e-reader but a tablet. But as this device matched all my requirements and in Singapore we have great data plans to choose from, it became my most obvious choice.

There was one small glitch though!

Now you can ask me, as it is a tablet and got a LCD screen it means you cant get the e-ink feel when you are reading.Right?

Well not exactly!

The screen settings can be easily adjusted to get a screen similar to the e-ink (I can live with that!)

The end.

(Note: If you find this helpful, leave your comments. Will share my actual reading experience with the tab in my next post.)