The Sudden Explosion of E-Books and E-Book Readers

E-books have been around for a while; however, only recently, E-book readers have found a place for themselves in the market. But while E-books themselves are relatively inexpensive, the readers require a far greater investment. (Be careful too, only a select few are worth it). While I’m not too familiar with E-books I’ve heard discussions about the lack of compatibility between readers. Despite some reputable big names introducing E-book readers to the market, there are also many smaller companies looking to get in on the act and pricing their readers much lower.

Amazon’s Kindle is regarded as the best E-book reader on the market with Barnes & Noble’s Nook not far behind. However, the problem with both of these is that they will only support one E-book format making it difficult to port E-books from one device to another and their reliance on the slow e-ink based technology which produces a display in black and white.

At present the E-ink technology is regarded as a stopgap measure until such time as full color video tablets or ‘slates’ become available. However, rushing these to the market could see an influx of cheaper but lesser quality devices, leaving consumers confused about the technology and unable to tell the bad from the good (remember what happened when the iPod first hit the shelves?).

My advice: go for a Kindle or Nook; wait for full color video tablets to hit the market or take the old fashioned route and buy a paper and ink book instead!