| The popularity of electronic book readers increased | | | | sessions you won't notice them at all. In fact, when |
| enormously during the course of 2009. The launch of | | | | you're enjoying a good book, you will be completely |
| the Amazon Kindle 2.0 and the large format Kindle | | | | unaware of the fact that you're reading it on an |
| DX, followed up by competing readers like the Nook | | | | electronic device rather than leafing through the |
| from Barnes and Noble and Sony's Daily Edition | | | | pages of a more traditional paper edition. |
| reader in the latter part of the year, put both | | | | Most e-readers are very easy to use. A recent |
| readers and e-books firmly on the map. By early 2010 | | | | survey of American e-book reader owners found |
| there was a large selection of e-book readers for | | | | that 80% of them actually preferred using their |
| potential customers to choose from - including the | | | | electronic readers to reading a conventional book. |
| Apple iPad, which includes the ability to read e-books | | | | That's a fairly strong endorsement - but considering |
| amongst its many options. | | | | how easy these readers are to use one-handed, on a |
| Now that e-readers have been taken up by "early | | | | crowded bus or train, or sitting propped up in bed - |
| adopters", the next wave of potential customers will | | | | it's possibly less surprising than it appears at first |
| come from more traditional book readers. Although | | | | glance. |
| it's possible to find many (very many) reviews of | | | | Apart from the numerous advantages of the readers |
| e-book readers on the internet, and increasingly in | | | | themselves, the e-books to read on them are |
| magazines and newspapers, the current crop of | | | | cheaper than paper books. They don't use paper, ink |
| customers are probably more interested to learn how | | | | or bindings and there are no (or very small) delivery |
| e-readers stack up against "real" books rather than | | | | fees. They are also, for exactly the same reasons, |
| how they compare with other e-book readers. They | | | | much more environmentally friendly than conventional |
| want to know if they will miss the feel of a | | | | books - even when the materials and energy used in |
| traditional book. | | | | the production and delivery of the readers |
| The good news is that the e-ink display technology | | | | themselves are taken into account. |
| used in modern e-readers is really very good. The | | | | E-book readers, all things considered, have a lot to |
| reading experience is nothing like reading on a | | | | recommend them. They are the future of reading |
| computer screen - it's much closer to reading text | | | | and, if you read a book a week or so, could well be |
| printed on paper. | | | | quite a bit cheaper than traditional books. At the end |
| When you "turn the page" of an e-book, the reader | | | | of the day, it's a matter of personal preference - but |
| display goes dark very briefly. However, these page | | | | an electronic reader may well be an option which you |
| turns are much faster now than they were even | | | | should give some thought to. |
| twelve months ago. After a couple of reading | | | | |