Is an e-reader in your future?

More and more people, including seniors, are buying and using tablets. As the prices fall, the trend will grow. The Nook Color I bought last January is already about $100 less than what I paid. Our retirement community purchased 4 Kindles thru a grant, and they will soon be available at the front desk to check out for reading books. My literary club which mainly has members in the 60-90 age bracket will have an e-reader panel in April for those who have e-readers to bring and share how they are using them.

The first thing one needs to determine before purchasing a tablet is how one will use it. In my case, I wanted something that would connect thru Wi-fi so I could check my email and Facebook while away from home. The book reading was almost secondary. Many magazines now offer parallel delivery; i.e., those who subscribe to the paper issue can receive a digital issue on their tablet for no extra cost. We receive Time that way. Though I mostly read the paper issue, I have at times taken the tablet with me to doctor’s appointments to read while waiting. While away from home for several weeks this winter, the digital copy will be delivered and read on the tablet. I will be able to keep current.

If one is going to read magazines on the tablet, then a color tablet is best. Also, if you want to read art books or cookbooks, or children’s illustrated books, a color version is essential. So you need to consider what type of reading you will do. Another issue is the depth of selection. Amazon has Barnes and Noble beat in the amount of choices available. If you want to use apps, Amazon also has more to offer. The Nook Color handles pdf files well if you are going to upload such files from your computer to take with you. The Nooks often have more storage capacity as well. My Nook Color will take an extra storage card to handle more titles. I am curious to compare my experiences and device with others so I am looking forward to my club’s panel.

I am not into apps. Obviously, Amazon sells more apps than Barnes and Noble.  A little known fact, however, is that because Nooks are Android based, there are cards that you can buy on the internet to insert into the extra storage slot that make it possible to load apps available for Android smartphones onto a Nook. Barnes and Noble sales people will tell that you void the warranty, but they have no way of knowing what kind of card you have inserted. The card must be inserted before turning on the device; then, removed again before using the company’s installed standard features, but it does not change the guts of the device in any way. Tech people can hack into the operating system and make permanent changes to avoid having to remove the card, but that will void the warranty. Since I am not big on apps, I haven’t tried this card, but for people coveting more apps this is a possible way to increase the choices.

I was amused when I read an article by blogger So Many Books where she describes that her husband likes his lighted device so he can read in bed. If he nods off, the device eventually shuts itself off but of course remembers where he left off in his reading. This is better than dropping a heavy book onto the floor and losing one’s place. Actually, her blog is a discussion of the physical book versus the digital book. Like her, I would miss the physical feel of a real book if none were available. You can follow the discussion at http://somanybooksblog.com/2012/12/05/the-physicality-of-books/ . It certainly removes “clutter” and frees space in the home to replace physical books with digital ones, but I do have an emotional attachment to the physical book.

Maybe a tablet e-reader will be under your Christmas tree this year. It certainly has many advantages including the ability to increase the size of the font and the portability of many titles to read. If the prices continue to fall, you may have to treat yourself to a gift.