Literary Quote of the Month

"A reader lives a thousand lives before he dies," said Jojen. "The man who never reads lives only one." - George R.R. Martin, A Dance With Dragons

Wednesday, May 12, 2010

The Digital World Welcomes ANOTHER eReader... The Kobo eReader

The Kobo eReader

There's another eReader choice coming mid June... The Kobo eReader, which will be distributed by Borders. And at $150 it's going to make digital reading even more affordable! It won't have 3G and WiFi, but is it really such a problem to plug your eReader into to your computer to download your books? You won't get that instant gratification of pressing that "buy" button like you do on your Kindle or iPad and start to read your new book, but you will save quite a bit of money buying the Kobo eReader itself. It looks like the design is similar to the Kindle, with a 4-way blue rubber pad on the front used to navigate the page. The left side of the Kobo eReader has buttons for Home, Menu, Display and Back, for navigating between books etc. And the back of the Kobo is quilted and is suppose to "bring the feel of traditional books to your eReading experience" (really?!) So, what's the Kobo eReader going to offer...

* E-Ink Technology... non glare, easy on the eyes viewing.
* Font choice... a choice between sarif and sans-serif style, AND 5 font sizes, which is a nice feature.
* ePub, Adobe DRM, and PDF support
* 6 inch display and weighing in at only 8 ounces
* 1 GB of memory... can store up to 1000 books
* Battery Life = the turning of 8000 pages ( or about 2 weeks)

A lot of nice features for what some are considering to be a "bare bones" eReader. But the point is really to be able to read books, and the Kobo seems to have all that it takes to do that. The Kobo site, formerly Shortcovers, has always been a great site to download ebooks. They are a multiplatform store where you can buy and download books for your iPhone, Sony readers, PC and Mac's, along with a host of other venues. They have a great selection of free ebooks available too. If you buy a Kobo eReader, you'll also get 100 free classic books pre-loaded in your eReader! You can read more about the Kobo eReader at Borders.com, and if you're interested you can pre-order one there too.

Matthew Miller who co-writes an online column, The Mobile Gadgeteer, wrote a great piece on the Kobo eReader, after getting a chance to preview it in April. Here's a link to his article Hands on with the Kobo eReader.

If you've been on the fence about an eReader, will the $150 price tag of the Kobo tempt you? Do you have an eReader? What features do you like the most? I love my Kindle, (sold my Nook), and am enjoying my iPad... The Kobo eReader looks to be a great addition to the growing family of eReaders. Features seem to be pretty consistent in the eReaders, with screens improving and having a choice in size and type of font. eReaders are said to be a lifeboat for dwindling "traditional" book sales, might the prices of eReaders go even lower?! Let's just hope the prices of eBooks stabilize...

10 comments:

Julie P said...

I don't have an e-reader and I don't plan on buying one in the near future. If I was to get one though, this one would probably be it--nice price, and I really don't want one with a bunch of fancy stuff on it, so this looks like a good deal!

Suzanne Yester said...

Hi Julie,
You're right about not needing a lot of fancy stuff on a eReader for it to work. And this looks like it might be the perfect little eReader for the price.

Thanks for sharing your thoughts!

Janna said...

Great post. I hadn't even heard of the Kobo!

I love the feel of an actual book, the pages, the covers, the bookmarks, I could go on and on. :) That said, I'm tired of packing 6 books when I go on vacation!

Good to hear that there are more and more options available (iPad, Kobo, Kindle) and that this one is cheaper.

Thanks for the post!

Suzanne Yester said...

Hi Janna,
I'm with you- love the feel of a real book in my hands, but sometimes it's nice to be able to carry a variety of reading material in one small slim volume.
Especially traveling!

(Diane) Bibliophile By the Sea said...

It is getting ridiculous with everyone jumping on the eReader bandwagon. Real books are still the best IMO :)

Unknown said...

Well isn't that interesting. I think this is going to start the war of the ereaders. Borders, kindle and now this one from Borders. I do not have a ereader. Not sure if I would buy one. I like the physical book. If I did buy one I think I would buy the nook. For what it offers.

Aisle B said...

Kobo seems very user friendly but I have an eye on the IPad. It's coming out in Canada at the end of the month so I'll be running to the Apple store to play with it. Will I buy one? Hmmm it's on the wishlist, like so many of my other wishlist books.
I have not yet jumped on the E readers since I love holding the pages of a book. It would be more practical since the volumes of books on an E reader is exponentially huge. I would miss seeing books on the shelves too much though...
Thanks for sharing the info on the Kobo Suzanne.

Harvee said...

This might be the one, at last!, for me.

Athira said...

I'm definitely looking forward to this one! 150 bucks for an ereader is quite a steal!

carla said...

I don't have an ereader but they are certainly getting alot of attention lately.
I think I would choose one made to just read books.
This one sounds like a more reasonable price and what it takes to just read the book without other not so useful options.

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