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The Wonderful Simplicity of an E-reader

One other thing I did not mention in my Kindle Touch review was that I liked how it simplified things and made me concentrate purely on reading, compared to the iPad where I'd read for a bit, then wonder what's going in the Twitterverse or would suddenly feel the compulsion to check the history of instant noodles in Europe on Wikipedia.

That doesn't happen when I'm reading on the Kindle. The device disappears and I'm lost in the book, which is how it should be.

Librarian Bohyun Kim seems to agree:
The greatest problem I had with an iPad ‘as an e-reader’ was that aside from its weight and the eye-straining screen, I could not really concentrate on reading for a long time. I don’t know if this is a non-issue for others with stronger willpower. But for me, this was certainly a big problem. While reading, I would get easily distracted into web surfing, checking e-mails, and reading tweets and Facebook updates.  On the other hand, on this single-purpose device, it was easy to continue reading for a much longer time. Sometimes, I would have an urge to go online and do something else. But often I would just ignore the urge as I simply didn’t feel like moving.
Of course, you could just read a paper book instead but where's the fun in that?
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Comments

  1. John Ling22/2/12 7:06 am

    I agree with you absolutely, Ted. I haven't bought a print book for three years now. Glad to see you've jumped on to the bandwagon! It's a brave new world indeed. ;)

    ReplyDelete
  2. Ted Mahsun22/2/12 11:34 am

    Wow, three years. I don't think I'll stop buying print books, mostly because books in Malay still depend on dead trees.

    Doesn't stop me from hassling local publishers to start publishing e-books though but the response I've mostly gotten from them has been rather in the vein of "lolwut".

    ReplyDelete
  3. Ron Easton for Dads UnLimited23/2/12 11:26 am

    I found your blog through the A-Z sign up list. Lots of good information and fun reviews!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Ted Mahsun23/2/12 11:31 am

    Thanks for dropping by, Ron!

    Your blog looks neat as well. I'm a dad as well, with a two year old girl and another on the way. I'll check back once in a while.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Elizabeth Tai12/3/12 11:27 pm

    I lost count how many times I was rudely awakened by the smack of the ipad on my forehead while I read in bed. ;) I love the thing, but not as an eReader. My Nook wins!

    ReplyDelete

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