I'm not sure about e-books

For a while now I own an e-book reader. I've tried to postpone it as long as possible, but the device was lying idle on the shelf and Dear Hubby kind of pressed me into using it. So for the past month I'm giving it a try. I do not own a fancy e-reader, not a Sony, a Kindle or whatever brand there is these days. Mine was giving for free when we bought a course with one of those learn-at-home companies. Ah well, it works.

So, I looked for some free e-books on the net. A lot of e-books out there, but my of my, have you looked at the prices? Sometimes you pay as much or more for an e-book as for a regular one. Why? And the e-books that were free were not of my liking. If I do not want to read Charles Dickens in a regular book, what makes you think I will read it as an e-book? And don't get me wrong, I've nothing against Charles Dickens. Luckily for me I have a friend with more than enough e-books in her possession, so after dinner one night we connected my e-reader to her laptop. She had several books I could try out.

And what are my experiences so far. Well, I'm not completely convinced I like the e-book reader. Maybe it is due to the e-book reader itself. The battery doesn't last as long as I would like it to be. I used it for a week while commuting to work - 15 to 20 minutes on the train and bus one way - and the battery was dead within a week. With a regular book - when you finished it - you can always buy a new one. With a dead battery, nope, you're out. So I switched back to a regular book on the train. And a regular book is always ready to read. You open the book and tada, all the letters are available. As for an e-reader, you have to kick start the thing, search for the book you were reading and then you can start to read. With a regular book, I'm reading at least 5 minutes earlier.

The e-reader is now lying on my night stand and I like it there. I always read something before I go to sleep. For that, the device is perfect. I can even turn off the light if Dear Hubby wants to sleep and still read.

So for now, I kind of think I'm at an armed peace with the thing. Not completely convinced, but hey, it's fun.