Amazon Kindle
Barnes & Noble Nook
Sony Reader
Happy Black Friday! If you’re like me you’re probably… still in bed on this lovely morning the day after Thanksgiving. If you’re like millions of other Americans, though, you’ve been out in the trenches for hours, shopping for a great deal. (Bonus points if you’re reading this very post on your cell phone, in line to check out at a store.)
In honor of the official start day of the holiday shopping season, we want to know: Will you be buying an e-reader this year? Which one? A Nook? Kindle? Sony Reader?
According to a report from iReaderReview.com, e-book sales have risen in a big way. Random House sold $22.6 million worth of e-books in September 2009 – up from $2.9 million a year ago. The website also reported that by the end of 2010, e-book sales should represent 10-20% of total book sales.
And if you’re not interested in e-readers, you’re you alone. Just listen to bookseller Patty Donovan from The Book Nook, who told us:
Before e-books, book ownership was a thing to be prized, a goal to be lauded and a visible symbol of success and intelligence. E-books have tarnished that gilded image, turning people who used to look for integrity in the printed word into those who think that Wikipedia is a far more accurate and dignified source than anything in print.
Since I don’t own an e-reader, I’m going to stay neutral on this one — although I wouldn’t mind having one on trips. I’m toting around The Lacuna, Steve Yarbrough‘s forthcoming Safe from the Neighbors, and Isabel Allende‘s Daughter of Fortune during my Thanksgiving vacation (couldn’t decide which one to read first) — anyone else have this problem while traveling?
Wow. Never thought about it like that. I have be contemplating buying an ereader. I do travel for work and carrying around 3 or 4 books can be quite cumbersome. I still thinking for true book lovers there’s nothing like reading an actual book.
I’d like one but haven’t settled on one. My husband it my technology consultant and would like to see the industry “settle” on a standard before buying. Kinda like the VHS vs Beta issue…
The only reason I would get one, is if there was a way to store all my years worth of New Yorker magazines! I prefer print books to e-books, but see the benefit to owning one for travelers or students (especially w/the Sony Reader’s ability to read .doc and random .pdf files!).
To me there is nothing that can ever take the place of a real book…the jacket or cover picture that stimulates your interest, the feel of the paper pages between your fingers & even the smell of a new book. A small paperback doesn’t take much more room than the e-reader in your suitcase. I for one will never replace my books with one…of course I said that about my oven when microwaves came out!!!