E-Reader Thoughts

With my traumatic brain injury induced perceptual and eye muscles problems, I am only able to tolerate the printed page for a half hour or less.

I got an e-reader a couple years ago-- it's a Barnes & Noble Nook. [Note: I'm not thrilled that they are hooking up with Google now but that is another story]. Now I can comfortably read for as long as I wish to. As long as it is on the e-reader.

The B&N store [so far, sometimes things change] has a library sort of back-up thing. I can put my e-books into storage at the B&N site. Also, I can reload them onto the Nook if I ever have to do a hard re-start on the Nook [which I've had to do once}. Some of the books can be lent by me to other users of the Nook too.

The other thing is the freebie and cheapie e-books. There are a bunch of freebies. Some of them are by authors who publish via Smashmouth, Tor, or self. [I hope to be one of those some day soon]. And they make for a good read. Others are reproductions of historical documents. And those can be interesting.

B&N has a deal a day of their choosing [most aren't my cup of tea but a few have been], a book given away of their choosing on freebie Fridays [same: a few have been excellent, some are by authors I've heard of], and now this new "show up at a B&N store on weekends" and get two e-books [out of 16 or so, their choosing] for the price of one [less practical but one I may hook into if I see two books I want].

And then there are pdfs. Which I can download and then sideload onto my Nook. And read at my leisure. Those I get from other sites. Cory Doctorow releases his books for free and also as pay. Some I've gotten free and others I've paid for depending upon my finances. I give him props for that.

I know Amazon and other places have their own deals and freebies.

The drawback to all e-readers is that unless one roots them, they are meant to work with the stuff you get from the company that you bought the e-reader from. This was a predictable move in the e-reader market but most unfortunate.

The cool thing about all the e-books for me is that now that I can read comfortably again, I've been publishing reviews on my review blog. And that's kind of fun.

sapphoq reviews

p.s. I've read that the iPad [along with the iPad price, sigh] will work on e-books from anywhere. I haven't been able to verify that yet. On the other hand, I don't perceive getting my hands on the funds to pay for said iPad at any time in the foreseeable future anyway. 

     No copyright infringement or trademark infringement was intended by posting this post.  I am not going to run off claiming that any of the brand names I mentioned are mine.  Just Saying.