Scott Allan's World

Plastic Logic finally unveiled their Que Reader today at CES 2010.   It was the final eBook Reader I had been waiting on to see if I should get one.   I had been reading books on my Windows Mobile phone which was not ideal but I already owned it, the software was free, it was portable, and it had a light so I could read a book in bed while my wife is sleeping.   Of course there is the Kindle for $249, but I never like devices that lock you into buying from their store such as Amazon.  I’m a big open source supporter, but all of the bookstores use some sort of DRM (Digital Rights Management). Plus, none of the books I had already purchased from ereader.com could be read on the Kindle.  I’m not sure why I thought that was important.  Upon reflection, I realized I never read a book twice anyways.  The Sony Readers did not have a way to wirelessly download the books until they released the Daily Edition in December 2009 for $399.   The Nook at $249 was appealing from Barnes and Noble.  B&N owns eReader and Fictionwise and the Nook would support those formats, but delays in production and reviews about slow page turning turned me off.   None of these devices had everything I wanted.

While waiting on Plastic Logic, I bought an iPod Touch which you can currently get at Walmart for $183.99.  This supported all the major bookstores except for Sony.  It has a backlight.  It is bigger than my phone, but still small and light. You can put it in your pocket and take it anywhere you go.   It can do things other than read books such as check email, search the internet, play games, etc.   The only drawback is that you need to be near a WIFI connection to download a book, but if you are clever enough, you can connect to the internet through your phone.   If you have an iPhone, you have it all.  I have been pretty pleased with it so far.   Once I heard the price of the Que Reader today, I knew I had made the right choice, $649 for WIFI and $799 for WIFI and 3G.  That’s just crazy.   Rumor is that the Apple Tablet is going to be near that price and you will get much more bang for your buck.  Let’s see if it’s impressive enough to take the place of my iPod Touch.