Not lost, just undiscovered.

I was supposed to write this post many weeks ago but work, travel and the holidays got in the way. But as they say, better late than never right?

As I mentioned in my last post, I’ve had my Kobo for a few months now and I love it.

I promised a list of pros and cons for the Kobo, and so without further ado, here’s my list (in no particular order):

Pros:

• It’s lightweight and small enough to fit in my purse (“So light! Like a croissant!”)
• It’s fast and simple to add books to my Kobo library
• It reads ePubs, which is what the Toronto Public Library offers (though I’m sure you can find a program to convert ebook formats for any reader)
• It comes with 100 classics pre-loaded, which is great when you’re looking for something to read on the go.
• Unlike reading on my iPhone or computer, the screen does not strain my eyes. The e-ink makes it feel like I’m just reading a piece of paper behind glass. It’s fantastic.
• You can change fonts and font sizes, and if you’re reading a PDF, you can switch to landscape view. This actually came in handy a few times.
• There is no delay when turning pages (unlike the previous Kobo edition)
• Battery life! I haven’t actually made note of how long it lasts, but it feels like about a month goes by before I have to re-charge.

Cons:

• There’s only one button to push to navigate through menus and turn pages. I was really worried about getting an RSI as I read pretty quickly and turn pages frequently. But this actually hasn’t been a problem so far and I’ve gotten used to it.
• It takes some time to power on and the store takes some time to load and navigate.
• It has also frozen a few times and I’ve had to re-start. As well, in recent weeks my settings have randomly changed back to the factory settings a few times. I should probably look into updating my software though.
• It doesn’t have some of the other nice-to-have features that the Kindle has: free (!) wifi, multiple navigation buttons, a full keyboard to make notes on pages, etc.

A few friends have asked for my input on e-readers and my final comment is always this:

The Kobo meets my needs right now. It’s lightweight and can read free books. It would be nice to surf the Internet and all those other fun things the Kindle does, but all I wanted was something to read books on. This does it. For everything else I have my iPhone.

Do any of you have a Kindle? I’m curious to know what you think of it. Please share in the comments.

Image Source: jivedanson.

After months of deliberation, I finally went out and purchased a Kobo.  It took me a long time to decide to get an ereader in the first place and then I had to decide which one to get.  I’ve explained my rationale many times offline and thought I’d share it here.

Most people know that I have a weakness for stationary and I love collecting printed books. I love holding them, turning the pages, and even love the smell of them.  I’m also a really big reader – I read often and I read everywhere.  I read daily during my commute to and from work, but have a hard time when the book is heavy. I already take a lot to work and carrying a heavy book in my purse wasn’t doing my shoulders any favours.

That’s when I started thinking about getting a light-weight e-reader that I could use while commuting and on-the-go. It would ideally fit in my purse and could carry as many books on it as I want.

I knew I needed an ereader that was both affordable and could read library books. I’ve been trying to spend less money on books this year and my personal rule is to borrow from the library first. Then, if I love a book enough, I can put it on the list to purchase.  I wanted to stick to this rule with my ereader (even more so as I’d rather buy printed books than digital ones) and soon found out that the library offers ebooks in epub format.

The solution ended up being the Kobo. As much as I really like the Kindle and the features it offers, it doesn’t handle epubs and that was most important to me. I would have loved an iPad but it’s above my price range and is too big for what I needed.

So I waited until the new wirelesss version of the Kobo was out and happily picked one up. Now I can read library books on my Kobo and if I love a book enough, I can still put it on the list of printed books to purchase.

I’ve had it for a few weeks now and it’s been great! There wasn’t much of an adjustment period and I’m still zooming through books like I was before. I’ll share my thoughts on reading on a Kobo in my next post.

Do you have an ereader? Why or why not?