Reiteration

I keep thinking that I'm writing posts daily, but I'm not. It's like there's some alternate reality where I'm going off and writing all these posts. But whatever--I'll allow myself to take weekends off. That's what I do during the schoolyear, anyways.

So I'm back to wanting an eBook Reader. And I'm back to being unable to decide which one I want. Dad keeps raving about the Kindle on the iPhone, but I don't like reading books on my iPod. The back-lit screen strains my eyes, and because the screen is small I tend to hold it a bit too close to my face (That habit combined with the DS is probably the reason I wear reading glasses). I've never been able to finish a book on my iPod. In fact, I've started books on it, and then either gone out and bought the real thing or downloaded it onto my computer. Not to mention the poor battery life; after having my only source of entertainment die at the beginning of an airplane flight, I've been against reading books on the iPod.

I suppose it's my fault for not charging it all the way before my flight. But if I had charged it, I would have been tempted to play Katamari and dry the battery in less than an hour.

But still. I want an eReader, and the best two out there are the Kindle and the Sony.

I've been kinda eyeing the Kindle for a while. It's obviously better... seemingly. It's much more popular, and it gets a lot more press. But I can't really figure out why. What sets it apart from all the others? I would think it's the ability to browse the web and the bookstore straight from the device. It's a really nifty feature, and sometimes just that idea almost has me sold on it. But when you get right down to it, it's still an e-Book reader, and it's harshly crippled because it can't read PDF's.

In fact, after downloading a bunch of books in the PDF format, the Kindle's inability to read them has become a dealbreaker for me. It's tough to read so much text on a computer screen, and I want to be able to put it on my eBook Reader. So then, I guess the Sony Reader is ideal for me, yes? But the Sony is incompatible with Mac. Which is a huge WTF for me and makes me angry at so many different things in so many different ways. I could probably write a five-page essay on why that makes me angry. Though, there's supposed to be this way to get it to work with your Mac, but it still makes me angry on principle.

And I'm not even a Mac. After owning one and really not loving it, I've realized that I am a PC.

I was going to reserve a space here for how most of the books I want to read are in the public domain. Kindle has them for free from their store, and Sony makes you pay $1.99 for the same books. But then I found out that Sony claims you can download the public domain books for free through Google, and the point became moot. Besides, I'm pretty sure that if it's in the public domain I'll be able to find a PDF of it anyways.

I still want to talk about how the books I want to read are in the public domain, though. Recently, I've been interested in reading the classics. You know, the sort of books they make you read in high school. And I want to read them while I'm still young. So it doesn't much matter to me that Sony's library is much smaller than the Kindle's. I'm probably only going to read books I can find for free anyways. By the time I'm interested in new releases, both libraries will probably be massive (or my reader will be obsolete).

So I think I've decided on the Sony Reader. It can do PDF's, and it has a touchscreen now. It also has a (sucky) built-in back-lit display. Even though I don't want a backlit screen, I want the option, in case I feel like reading at night without bothering someone else. Like, say... my roomate. It's also about $20 cheaper, and I don't have to wait for shipping. I can just go down to Target and buy it. Or Wal Mart. Or, probably, some other chain store in my area. Not to mention it comes in more than just one color. While the red one is nice, I think I'll prefer that special edition dark blue one, it contrasts nicely with the screen to make reading a bit easier.

What's interesting is that I've just gone and listed all the things the Kindle doesn't have and can't do. The only bonuses for the Kindle, really, are the wifi, keypad, and book selection.

Yeah. When my dad comes home, I think I'll discuss buying the Sony Reader with him. I want his opinion on this before I plop down a few hundred dollars. I know that ever since I brouht this up to him last December, he's been mulling on it the same way I have.