E-readers: Changing the way we read
Are the walls of your home lined with overstuffed bookshelves? Do you need to rent a storage space just for your collection of paperback romances? Do visitors often mistake your home for a branch of the local public library?
Thanks to the growing business of E-readers, book lovers can do just that.
E-readers, much like iPods and MP3 players changed the way people listened to music, are changing the way people read books, magazines and newspapers. These small hand-held devices allow readers to instantly download best-selling or classic books, the latest magazines or the top stories from newspapers across the country.
With the press of a button, readers can open the latest chiller from horror writer Stephen King or read today?s editorial in the Chicago Tribune. Best of all, E-readers pack all this punch in a small, compact package. E-readers are smaller and thinner than even the flimsiest of paperback books.
E-readers benefit frequent travelers the most. Packing several books for business or pleasure trips is a hassle. Books take up a lot of space. Too often, avid readers have decided to leave their favorites at home.
With e-readers, though, travelers can carry dozens of books in one lightweight, portable package. They simply download to their E-reader of choice as many books as they could possibly read during their trip.
E-readers also enhance the reading experience. They allow users to type notes and mark pages and passages for further review. Users can also search for synonyms or definitions from built-in dictionaries while reading. And readers no longer have to worry about damaging their pages when a bookmark isn?t handy; E-readers often automatically remember the last page a user has read in each book, and bring those pages up when readers return to them.
The two most popular E-readers now on the market are the Amazon Kindle 2 and the Sony Reader. Both come with easy-to-read screens, with the Kindle 2 boasting 16 different shades of grey. The Sony Reader can store about 350 standard ebooks, while the Kindle 2, released in February, can store a whopping 1,500.
Through a quick Google search, readers can uncover online reviews of the top E-readers now available. It?s best to read through these reviews before buying. Each E-reader is slightly different, and some features that may be critical to one customer may be unnecessary to another.
Maybe it?s time for you to give an E-reader a try. With one, you can usually purchase books at a deep discount. For example, owners of the Amazon Kindle 2 can purchase most best-sellers for just $9.99 on the online Amazon Kindle Store. And once you download a book or two, you just might get hooked on electronic reading.