Electronic Book Readers - my take

The Kindle, Nook, Ipad, and other electronic book readers are all the rage right now. My best friends don't have one, but want one. Me? Nah, no thanks.

I will admit the idea is somewhat cool, but I am a book lover. Not just someone who likes to read - I love books. There is a difference. Of course, I like to read the books too. Back when I actually had my own place and had bookshelves full of books, not packed away in boxes in a storage shed, I loved to sit on the floor, and pull a few books off of the shelf and look through them. Some had really cool/exciting endings that I liked to read again, or other parts in the book. Some are books with severak stories in, and I would turn the page to a favorite story or ancedote.

All of that is lost with an EBR. You can't feel the book, smell the book. OK, that might sound weird, but books do have a smell, especially if you've had them a long time.

I really can't come up with a reson to have an ERB. Convenience? How so? I have never, ever, been anywhere that I couldn't have just as easily taken a few books along than an EBR. Yeah, I know, you can store so many more books on one. So what. When I go on vacation for a week to the ocean, I usually take 10-12 books along, and they easily slide in under a seat or somewhere. I read fast, but even I wouldn't read 100 books on a week's vacation. 10-12 - yeah, I've done it.

Maybe I'm old-fashioned, but I like to see and hold what I pay for. Music is the same way. Oh, I will download a song or two here and there, but if it is any artist I listen to much at all, and buy a whole CD of, I want the CD. I want to see it, feel it, read the song lyrics, and not just have it on my computer and Ipod. I do enjoy my Ipod, but 99% of what is on it, I have the actual CDs of and can stick in my car. And it is convenient to carry around a small item that fits in my pocket, but holds close to 5000 songs. Beats carrying a boombox and a ton of CDs - but I still like having the CDs.

Back to the EBR - it just isn't for me. One of my friends said you could buy the book and the electronic one - uh, no. I have never had that kind of money that I could afford two copies of a book, even if one were electronic, so for me, give me a book. A real paper book that I can feel in my hands. That I can phsyically turn the pages, and not click a little arrow or something. Is the EBR here to stay? I don't know, but if they depend on me to stay afloat, they won't last another day. Here is a toast to real, physical books!