O’Reilly GM and publisher Joe Wikert (@jwikert) wrote recently about how he can’t shake his ereader. I read his story with interest, as I can’t seem to justify buying one. I was gifted a second-generation Kindle a while back, and it lived down to all my low expectations. The limitations were primarily the clumsy navigation and single-purpose functionality. I loaned it to a friend; she fell in love, so my Kindle found a new home.
At this point, I do all my ereading on my iPad 2: books, textbooks, magazines, news, short form, long form … all of it. I will admit, I found the new Nook Simple Touch with GlowLight that Wikert acquired somewhat tempting. The technology is much improved over the second generation Kindle, and though I haven’t yet played with one in the store, I bet the execution is much more enjoyable. Still, my original hang-ups prevail.
First, I don’t want to be locked in to one retailer. On my iPad, I have apps that allow me to read books bought from anywhere I choose. I can buy books from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Apple and other smaller retailers, and they will all work on my iPad. True, this spreads my library around in a less-than-ideal organization, but the ability to buy books from anywhere is more important to me.
Read the complete article at Radar O’Reilly.
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