Datapads

About six months ago, I heard about the Amazon Kindle. For those who don't know, it's basically an electronic book--a small computer or big PDA, depending on your perspective--that displays text files.

The big thing that makes it different from a computer or PDA screen is what's called E-ink. That's a nifty little invention that displays images on a screen without needing to refresh it every second or two, like old TVs and computer screens do. It's also not backlit, which makes it readable in broad daylight (though not, conversely, at night without a lamp). This cuts back on eye strain, making reading on it more comfortable. All of this combines for black text on a newspaper-gray surface. The Kindle features a wireless connection to Amazon.com, which lets you buy and download books in about two minutes. Amazon's isn't the only one; Sony has one, and so do a couple of other companies. The storage space of the readers, combined with the puny size of text files, means you can easily store a few hundred titles and always have them with you.

I immediately fell in love with the idea for two reasons. First, I have shelves and boxes of books at home that I read and love, but the paper, plastic, and ink that goes into their manufacture, as well as the time and energy spent transporting them to stores, are ridiculously wasteful. Of course, a rather tried-and-true solution already exists: it's called a library. I don't have any English libraries nearby, though, which leads to the second point. I love to read, but I also love to travel, and lugging boxes of books with me isn't very practical or cheap. These two reasons combined to make the idea of one of these readers fascinate me.

I did a lot of research, spending at least half an hour a day just browsing forums and review sites, reading about the different models. The single best resource I found is called MobileRead. Their forums are great, and they've got all kinds of ebooks and add-ons available for free.

Amazon's Kindle runs $450, and its main feature is the connection to Amazon. That doesn't work outside of the continental U.S., though. Also, I've found several sites (most notably gutenberg.org) that offer text files of public-domain literature absolutely free. Since these readers display text files, I'd be able to read all the classics I could ever want, at no additional cost. So I ruled out the Kindle.

Sony's reader stands out next, and costs "only" $300. I could have mail-ordered one in Japan, but shipping would have brought it up to about $450, and I still hadn't seen one up close. I wanted to make sure the screen was everything it's cracked up to be, so I waited until I got home to see one for myself.

As soon as I could, I went to Borders. They had one on display, and I fired it up. After reading a few pages, I couldn't tell the difference between the screen and the paper I use to print handouts for my students. I was convinced, and bought one on the spot. I didn't use it for the rest of my visit home, though; much as with the last Harry Potter book, I opted to focus on the friends and family I would only be able to see for a few days.