Paper books have their irreplaceable charm, but there is going to come a time when you’ll wish your books didn’t occupy so much of your breathing space – usually during moving or while cleaning the dust from a growing personal library.
Just like with any gadget, spend some time thinking what features you really need from an ebook reader before you go out and cash out your money.
First of all, pay caution to what makes an ebook reader what it is: its e-ink display. You can read on a tablet, a mobile phone or a laptop, but those are NOT ebook readers. I mention this because there are unscrupulous sellers that market tablet LED display devices as ebook readers – even though technically they are not. To make sure you get the real thing, try to read it in the dark – you won’t be able to do so, just like with a paper book.
The usual screen size is 6 inches and although it seems small, an ebook reader allows you to increase the font only, so you won’t have problems in reading on such a display.
Pay attention to what book formats are accepted by the ebook reader – but don’t forget that there are countless free format converters.My second ebook reader is a Wifi+3G Kindle Touch – theoretically it accepts pdf files, practically I convert them to mobi files with this code.The reason? If I increase the font size of a pdf file, the whole page is bigger, not only the font itself, so I’d have to scroll in all directions to read a basic journal paper. Converting pdf files to mobi is just easier to do.
Another important factor for portability is its weight – this is mainly increased by the battery, but also by adding a keyboard. In order to compare several ebook readers, check how much time does the battery last and how fast you can charge it. Also, think whether you really need a keyboard – do you take that many notes while you’re reading?
Some ebook readers have a touchscreen and include color-display screens. While fancy, remember that the ebook reader should not tire your eyes, so I’d recommend you skip these features (which also increase the price nevertheless).
You might also be tempted to pick one according to its storage size – some of them also allow you to store more GB of data on memory cards. Still, don’t crowd it with more books than you can read at the same time – you’ll just suffer from information overload. Add them as you finish others.
Check the operating system it accepts – unless you never plan to transfer books from your PC to your ebook reader.
In a number of countries, Amazon offers free 3G Internet connection, but in order to browse something else than their website, you need to register your Kindle. Most ebook readers should have a wireless card, but this is not an essential feature. I generally try to stay offline while reading, just to focus better on what I am studying.
A nice-to-have option for an ebook reader is text-to-speech software. I would also add here the option to underline text or to add notes.
These are the main features I would look for when buying an ebook reader. Before browsing the producers’ websites, check an objective comparison of ebook readers at this wiki.