rcharlton
11-06-2009, 07:50 AM
As long as I can remember, reading has been one of my favourite past times.
It was really heartbreaking when reading became too much of an ordeal as my hands and arms grew weaker.
I never enjoyed audiobooks as I usually found the narrators annoying.
I looked into the Kindle ebook reader - but it was not available in Canada at the time - plus it looked cumbersome and both the reader and the content seemed way overpriced.
Then last spring, my wife bought an iPhone - and I discovered that there are a number of free ereading applications (Stanza, Ereader) with access to 50,000+ free books which can be downloaded straight to your iphone. Essentially all classic books (Dickens, Austen, Conrad, Stevenson, Hugo, Vernes etc.) can be legally downloaded for free as the copyright has expired.
And no - the screen is not too small - you can adjust font size to much larger than the average book, change font type, colour, background - plus there is an autoscroll feature so no page turning is needed - and reading in the dark is a treat as the unit is back lit - many of these features are not found on the Kindle. I frankly don't understand why anyone would buy a Kindle.
On top of all that - you can check email, take calls, listen to music and audiobooks, surf the web - all for a price cheaper than Kindle. If you don't need a phone, the ipod touch has the same features without cell phone contract costs.
You can also download books to most other PDAs as well. I'm using a Palm TX right now. It does not have as many features as the ipod but it's a good reader.
I velcroed my Palm to a small hexagonal bird feeder. I can now just sit the bird feeder next to my pillow, set my ereader to autoscroll and I'm set for hours of hands free reading. When I get tired, all I have to do is tap the screen and my place is automatically saved and the unit powers off automatically too.
AND - you can store thousands of books in the device - so every time I go out - to the doctors, the hospital or wherever - I can bring my ENTIRE library with me - every single book. I actually enjoy waiting at the DR.s now as it gives me a chance to read.
It was really heartbreaking when reading became too much of an ordeal as my hands and arms grew weaker.
I never enjoyed audiobooks as I usually found the narrators annoying.
I looked into the Kindle ebook reader - but it was not available in Canada at the time - plus it looked cumbersome and both the reader and the content seemed way overpriced.
Then last spring, my wife bought an iPhone - and I discovered that there are a number of free ereading applications (Stanza, Ereader) with access to 50,000+ free books which can be downloaded straight to your iphone. Essentially all classic books (Dickens, Austen, Conrad, Stevenson, Hugo, Vernes etc.) can be legally downloaded for free as the copyright has expired.
And no - the screen is not too small - you can adjust font size to much larger than the average book, change font type, colour, background - plus there is an autoscroll feature so no page turning is needed - and reading in the dark is a treat as the unit is back lit - many of these features are not found on the Kindle. I frankly don't understand why anyone would buy a Kindle.
On top of all that - you can check email, take calls, listen to music and audiobooks, surf the web - all for a price cheaper than Kindle. If you don't need a phone, the ipod touch has the same features without cell phone contract costs.
You can also download books to most other PDAs as well. I'm using a Palm TX right now. It does not have as many features as the ipod but it's a good reader.
I velcroed my Palm to a small hexagonal bird feeder. I can now just sit the bird feeder next to my pillow, set my ereader to autoscroll and I'm set for hours of hands free reading. When I get tired, all I have to do is tap the screen and my place is automatically saved and the unit powers off automatically too.
AND - you can store thousands of books in the device - so every time I go out - to the doctors, the hospital or wherever - I can bring my ENTIRE library with me - every single book. I actually enjoy waiting at the DR.s now as it gives me a chance to read.
