The Hunt for the E-Book Reader

As you may know, e-readers have soared in popularity. They are the newest technology trend (even thought they have been around for years) and are one of the "it" items to get for Christmas.

Several months ago, I started to think about getting an e-reader. And as a future librarian, I did a lot of research on what would be the best e-reader for me. I also looked at getting computer tablets at one time, but changed my mind. One reason was because I just bought a netbook right after Christmas 2009. I got it for a very good price (thanks Wal-Mart!) and it came with Windows 7.

Another reason I ruled out tablets was because they were either too high or they were from companies that I had never heard of. I would research some of these "no-name" tablet computers and reviews would call them pieces of crap. An iPad was too high (despite my coworker rooting for me to get one) and I was waiting on Dell to come out with one. They will be coming out with one in a few days, but the price was still high for my taste. Remember, I got a mortgage to pay once a month.

Some of e-readers were also being reviewed as pieces of crap. Since there are a lot of professionals who reviewed this stuff for a living, I took their word for it.

So, a few weeks ago, I narrowed it down to two e-readers: the Kindle and the Cruz Tablet Reader. The Cruz is being sold by Borders and I wanted to see it before I would consider purchasing it. I called Waldenbooks (because there is no Borders in SC) to see when it would arrive. A few weeks later, they called to say that it arrived. I never got there, mostly because Waldenbooks is at the Charleston Place and for those who know what Downtown Charleston is like, traffic and parking is not easy.

On my birthday, which was almost a month ago, I decided to get a Kindle. I like Amazon, so I figure this would be a good purchase. So I went to Target with the hopes of leaving with a Kindle.

No Kindles of the $139 variety at the store.

Then it dawned on me that Best Buy is down the street and they sell Kindles. So I went there.

No Kindles - at all.

I knew I was going out of town, so I held off on my Kindle search.

So while I was out of town, I heard about the Nook Color. I will admit that I am not the biggest Barnes and Noble fan (and I really don't know why). But all of the features (children's books, Internet and COLOR) really did get my attention. And what also got my attention is that the Nook Color will be the official e-reader for Books-A-Million, which I am a fan of.

So for the last few weeks, I have been deciding over which e-reader I was going to get. And Sunday, I finally made my decision (and a phone call from the store and a $25 gift certificate helped).

I decided to get a Nook Color.

This e-reader is so neat. I am getting used to the touch screen and trying to figure out how to use B&N's Website. But I feel that I have made the right decision. Let's hope this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship.