明智地选择你的读者, 研究员书虫!

(首次发表于 Technorati 上 10/18/2011)

Christmas is just around the corner. Calling all the fellow avid bookworms around the world. Welcome to the “真正的” 21st Century.

Just as many of us expected, even our most popular, common hobbies will eventually be revolutionized by our always-evolving technology. The latest cutting-edge forms of technology already revolutionized our common hobbies and our ways of modern life, such as music, communication, and art. At this period of time, technology has finally revolutionized our favorite hobby: Reading.

Are your favorite books that you have in your possession since childhood falling apart? Are the pages of your favorite textbooks already worn out? Or worse, are you running out of space in your bookshelves at home that you had no choice but to get rid of the current books occupying the spaces to be donated to the library or literacy charities or even to the recycling bin? Maybe for the ones you no longer want, but for your favorite books that have been sitting in your bookshelves collecting dust? Fellow readers, this is the reason why technology just had to intervene and solve this common problem bookworms face everyday. You want to preserve those beautiful, wonderful text that your books hold inside their covers. The pure perfection of the books’ stories, the highly valuable information your old textbooks and reference books hold, it’s no wonder the saying of “Never judge a book by its cover” came about. You don’t just buy a book for its beautiful cover, but what is inside is what you’re aiming for.

Many young and modern hipsters of the late 20th Century-born generation are already aware of the eReader and the tablet, but among 70%-80% of the bookworm population around the world are still devoted to the tangible bound paper and ink rather than a computer file with nothing but text and pictures here and there. I currently own an early Android-powered Velocity Cruz T105 tablet that has a lot of features packed along with your usual eReading apps pre-installed, however like many of those 70%-80% that I mentioned, I still feel devoted to the bound paper and ink. If that’s the case then why did I decide to buy a tablet? 以及, if you keep reading, this is the reason why I’m writing this article.

I’ll assume that you as an avid reader have been pondering for a long time if investing your money on an eReader or a tablet would be a wise decision or a waste of time and money. Knowing how rapid technology can be as time passes, sometimes waiting for the latest models and enhancements is worth, but then again, you just want to have some kind of a convenient device for the sole purpose of reading electronic books and other documents. Do you like absolute tranquility when you are reading? Do you love grooving to some sweet music while you read, isolating yourself from the rest of the world? Do you want a type of reading device that also gives you the convenience of “reading break” activities, such as watching videos online, keep in touch with your social media networking via Twitter, FACEBOOK, 等等。, or even play your favorite mobile video games?

Below are a few of the tips that should be able to help you choose your reader wisely:

Are you an avid reader who just wants to read and have no care about everything else but to read?

This is where the first generation eReaders become the perfect choice for readers with this particular intent. Early generation Amazon Kindle, the Sony Reader, or even the Barnes & Noble Nook would be a perfect fit for the purist readers around. 诚然, the early generation of readers are completely in black and white, which is simply what most printed books are anyway. These particular readers also come in different shapes and sizes depending on how mobile and accessible you really want to be. There are the ones with huge screen sizes but are slightly bulky to carry and there are the mini-sized readers, where they may be light and easy to carry in your bag or your pocket, but also have small-sized screens. There are also other readers similar to the Kindle, Sony Reader, and Nook that are also available but are less expensive compared to the three.

The disadvantage of choosing these types of simple readers are, like any geek around when it comes to every little gadget that they must have , are the processing speed, storage size, and even the user-friendliness and ease of the functions of these little gadgets. Are you the type of reader who takes your time and have lots of patience? Get the most basic one. Are you an addicted, impatient reader that once you start, you just have to read the next page ASAP without any distractions? How often are you going to be using your reader to read books? (Or rather, if you find yourself getting addicted to your reader, how big is the storage space for you to download your new and favorite books and store as much as you can?) If you are the last two, this is where you pump in your bucks to a slightly more pricy reader that has a faster processing and a larger storage space.

When you walk inside the store, the store should give you a sample demo of these readers for you to check it out and determine the ease of its functions. Have an expert at the store guide you regarding the features, processing speed, and storage space before you get yourself attracted to the reader’s sleek-looking outer beauty. If you think about it from a devoted bookworm’s point of view, an eReader is pretty much, like a book.

There are really cool, fancy-looking designed eReaders all over from its basic touch screen to the ease of the keys and buttons on the tablet itself, but what about these eReaders’ inner powers? Like the known saying I stated before, “Never judge an eReader by its sleek-looking design.”

Now that I mentioned it, another tip that you need to consider before you purchase. If you want a touch screen-powered eReader, you also need to determine if the touch sensitivity of the gadget is restrictive (you have to press your finger(与) harder for the eReader to respond to your touch) or capacitative (the very sensitive of the sensitive where you can just lightly touch the screen and flick here and there without hurting your fingers from pressing the screen too hard). This small tip may sound rather silly to consider, but if you transitioned your cellphone from the hard-to-press keys to a touch screen, the touch sensitivity level on a phone would really frustrate you, especially if you’re texting. You will get that same frustration with an eReader, except it would be a lot worse when you’re reading.

Are you planning on using your reader sparingly and only use it to save space for your (existing) bookshelf?

This is actually where I fall under when I decided to buy an eReader/tablet. Majority of the books in my bookshelves at home are all old college textbooks and reference books. I rarely buy novels of any type (hardcover or paperback, 等等。) because of space issues with my bookshelf and have to wait some months after the release dates of new books to be available in my local public library. Reading using an eReader proved to be convenient and relaxing, however staring at a screen for hours just to read really does strain my eye, just like how I would stare at a TV screen and even a computer screen for hours. Just for eyesight reasons, an eReader/tablet may not be an ideal tool for every reader, and instead I use my eReader/tablet as a storage, so to speak, for all my non-fiction and reference textbooks. Not only that this would help me build a personal library of a vast wealth of information, but this also can help me clear up my already-occupied bookshelf so I can store in more of my extra books that have been stacked up in every corner of my room.

Not a smartphone user? There are eReader/tablets that have the same functions and same compatible apps like a smartphone!

eReaders and tablets are still relatively new. In the past few months we’ve already seen the emergence of full-functioned tablets with Amazon’s newest Kindle Fire and Nook’s latest Nook Color that only needs a WiFi connection in order to become a good alternative to users who are not smartphone users or simply are not fans of smartphones. There are already the more popular (and pricey!) full-function tablets such as the Samsung Galaxy, the Blackberry PlayBook Tablet, the HP TouchPad, and the ever-famous Apple iPad that you can look in to, 然而, some of these high-priced tablets require connection services from various phone service companies such as AT&T and Verizon if you want your tablets completely on the go without searching around places to find a WiFi hotspot. Other than that, the newest and the latest full-function tablets cost around $200 and maybe slightly lower, depending on your intentions other than just reading your favorite eBooks or documents.

Smartphones may download applications of these eBook readers, such as the Amazon Kindle app and the Kobo app. If you don’t have a smartphone, not a fan of the smartphone, or even if you are a smartphone owner but do not have intentions to use your mobile phone as your reader, then your best bet is to purchase an eReader or a tablet.

I’m still a traditional reader and nothing beats the joy of reading by holding a book and read the printed words on paper. eBooks are evil!

I still agree with this statement. As I’ve mentioned before, I purchased a tablet: a Velocity Cruz Tablet, primarily for reference material, non-fiction books, and other types of documents that I can access remotely on the web when needed. I still prefer reading my novels in the traditional printed and bound book, however I also have to accept the reality that one day, digital versions will completely replace the traditionally-published books and that bookstores and even public libraries may even cease to exist. Though that happening may still be far off, I like to embrace both the traditional and the digital together and use one and the other to my advantage of my enriched reading hobby.

Eventually after this article has been published, there may be new features and new ways that will be presented to the masses to further enhance our reading lives. But for now, we should focus on the present and all the technology we now have available.