Lighten Your Load With An E-Book Reader

Summer is just around the corner and many people will already be looking forward to their yearly break. For a large number of people that will entail a fortnight or so of sunbathing, at the beach or by the pool, possibly taking the opportunity to catch up on some of the books they’ve been intending to read but haven't found the time for so far this year. Thanks to the emergence of tablet computers and e-book readers, it's no longer necessary to set off on holiday with your hand luggage stuffed with paperback novels this year.

The two big players in the market are the Amazon Kindle ebook reader and the Apple iPad - and the Sony readers are also worth considering, for reasons which will become clear later. However, there's no shortage of alternative e-book readers and tablet computers on the market for you to choose from if you prefer something different.

Whilst each of these devices may be used to read e-books, some major differences exist between tablet computers such as the iPad and e-book readers such as Amazon’s Kindle 3. Apple's iPad tablet computer is an excellent choice if you want to have the ability to watch video, surf the web and possibly check your e-mail from time to time. There is also a growing selection of Android powered tablet computers available on the market which offer similar functionality.

However, all of that power and versatility comes at a price. The iPad costs around $ 580, and that’s the entry level model - higher specs can go up to $ 800. Battery life is also rather short - somewhere around about 10 hours between charges - and screen glare can make it difficult to read in direct sunlight.

The e-ink technology display used in e-book readers like the Amazon Kindle doesn’t suffer from screen glare to anything like the same degree (as was demonstrated in a recent Amazon TV commercial), so it’s a good choice if you reading whilst sunbathing at the side of the pool or on the beach is on your list of things to do. It also has a much longer battery life. Three or four weeks between charges is quite achievable if you keep the Wi-Fi turned off when you don't actually need it. E-ink displays are also very much easier on the eyes than back-lit computer screens, especially for prolonged reading sessions.

The price of the Kindle reader is less than a third of the iPad price. The entry level “Kindle with Special Offers” can be yours for just $ 114, and it has no monthly connection or download fees associated with it. There is also a large choice of Kindle books to select from on Amazon's website. At the moment, there are more than 900,000 titles available for customers to choose from - and that number is being added to daily.

If you don’t wish to be “tied” to Amazon's proprietary Kindle books, then the Sony reader is another alternative that you might like to consider. There are a variety of different Sony reader models, all of which use e-ink technology displays similar to the Kindle. Some of them use touch screen technology, which some people may find more intuitive to use - although it's probably worth mentioning that current touch screen displays tend to be more susceptible to screen glare when used in conditions of bright ambient light.

Whichever device you opt for, your hand luggage should weigh quite a bit less this year. The Kindle, for example, weighs less than a typical paperback - but it can easily store up to 3,500 books in its memory. With that kind of capacity, there's not much chance that you will run out of something to read. And, in the unlikely event that you do, it takes just a matter of minutes to choose and download a new book, as long as you can find a Wi-Fi hot spot.

Get more info on e-readers and books here: http://indiespaces.com/

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