black, white and read all over

When eReaders started to make their way onto the market, I scoffed. "I'll never read an electronic book."

Well, here I am, eating my words. Delicious.

I used some birthday loot to buy myself a Kobo just before Christmas, and I have to admit, I really love it. For the record though, it will never take the place of good, old-fashioned library books. In fact, I've shelved my Kobo this week to read my one-week library loan of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (Have you read it? Is it as great as everyone says?).

There are lots of eReaders out there to choose from. I made my decision quickly, and using only a few criteria. Mainly, I didn't want to pay and arm and a leg, and it had to be compatible with our local library's eBook lending service. The first of my demands eliminated the Sony eReader, which only cost about $30-$40 more than the Kobo, but was still out of my budget. The library compatibility issue eliminated the Amazon Kindle. I went to Chapters, tried out a Kobo, and made an impulse purchase.

Admittedly, there are a few downsides. It doesn't keep a charge as long as I'd like, and once the battery is hovering near empty, it takes longer to move from page to page (and by longer, I mean a few seconds, but it's still not as fast a flipping a paper page by hand). It was also difficult to figure out how to add library books to the Kobo. Luckily, I was able to search out this blog post that gives convenient directions.

Otherwise, it's been great so far. It came loaded with 100 classic novels. Many I've read, many I've wanted to read for years. Buying and uploading books from the Kobo site is super easy and I've picked up a bunch of new books for less than $5 each. And of course, my conscience and the environment appreciate the paperless option.