Someone please learn me e-readers

So I was thinking of getting my wife who reads A LOT a e-reader. I've previously looked at a Kindle and the Sony model but the newest one, The Nook from Barnes and Noble look very promising.

She is still hesitant about having one, concerns ranging from selection of books to ease of use and quality of the whole reading experience.

Any thoughts?

BTW, with GRM testing out the digital waters soon, how cool would it be if we could start getting the latest (and back) issues delivered instantly! (hint, hint)

I have a Sony reader and love the thing. I read constantly. Let's get this out of the way right away: the screens aren't backlit. But then again, neither is a paperback book.

Reading an electronic paper display is like, well, reading paper. You need some ambient light. But it's really easy to read. The best part is that it only uses the battery when you change pages, so battery life is ridiculously long. I could probably read a couple of big fat Tom Clancy books without having to recharge my Sony. It's awesome. The color LCD at the bottom of the Nook must suck some power, as they quote a battery life of 10 days without recharging. Mine's more like a month.

Having a bunch of books in your pocket is great. When I went to Australia earlier this year, I would normally have packed a bunch of novels. I have my reader with me all the time, so if I have a bit of a wait at the DMV then I pull out my current Discworld novel and amuse myself. I've been reading ebooks for a long time, I used to have a bunch loaded on my Palm V a decade ago.

One of the biggest things people don't understand is why you wouldn't get a netbook or an iTouch/iPhone for the same price. They're just not the same thing. Smaller screens, less convenient, much shorter battery life.

Stop by a Borders and check out a Sony reader, and I'm sure the nook will be on-hand in B&N for personal persual. They really are like reading paper.

As for availability, the Sony devices are pretty open as to what you can load into them. Kindle has a great selection, but there's some strong DRM built into it and it's not as friendly about non-Amazon formats. Time will tell about the Nook, I haven't looked into it that closely. Project Gutenberg is a great source of reading material, and if you're in to sci-fi a lot of those publishers release free ebooks. Authors have learned that giving away ebooks means more sales for the printed copies.

The concept of being able to read certain books for free on the Nook when you're at a B&N physical location is a really interesting one. It'll drive people to the stores. I can see Starbucks getting in to this, bringing people to the coffee shop to catch up on a free New York Times while they sip a extra vente mochalatta au lait for $5 a pop.

My Sony doesn't have wireless. That doesn't bother me, as I have a "queue" of unread books on my reader that will keep me occupied so I don't have a need to instantly download the latest Stephen King. Due to the slow refresh, these things make crappy web browsers anyhow.

And when I was talking to Tim about the upcoming digital edition, he brought up the subject of the Kindle. Mr Suddard is definitely interested in the possibilities.

I love the idea of the Kindle, but the price just seem a bit high. To find out the cost of the book, you have to add in the fraction of the device. Unfortunately there's no secondhand market; most of the books I buy nowadays are used. However, $13 for a month of the New York Times seems more than reasonable.

Yeah, the prices of Kindle books isn't really any different than the price of the actual paperbacks at Amazon. Someone's getting greedy. There are alternative sources, but the Kindle's not quite as happy about outside sources as the Sony or the Nook (from what I can tell).

But you know what? It's often cheaper to buy a CD off Amazon than it is to buy the same album on iTunes - and you still need an iPod to listen to them. And we all know how that worked out.