Preparing to Jump on the Ebook Bandwagon

I spent this evening browsing the iTunes music store for new releases.  Then, after downloading an album, I realized what an inconvenience it was to hook my iPod up to my laptop to sync the new music.  Ideally, I should be able to use my iPod to download music directly, shouldn’t I?  I suppose that’s why people like the iPhone and iTouch.

Then I imagined Don Mills (at the sassy blog, The Problem with Young People Today Is… ) ranting about my tech-savvy, lazy generation.  It wasn’t so long ago when the best way to sample music was to drive to a Sam Goody or Camelot and hope the album you wanted was hooked up to the headphones placed around the store.  I also tended to hang around resale shops like The Record Exchange (before it became The Exchange) and wait until I heard something I liked on their sound system. Then I’d ask, “who does this song?” and buy the album, hoping that the rest of it was as good as the song I’d sampled in the store.  I assume it was similar for Don’s generation:  Go to the record store, browse for something that looked like it might be good, and hope it lived up to your expectations once you got it home and onto the record player.

Now I know I’m a brat.  I get minute-and-a-half samples instantly from iTunes, and I whine that I have to connect my laptop to my iPod before everything is synced.  Synced!  Did that word even have meaning years ago?

But this brings me to the point.  My husband and I are trying to figure out when we’ll be able to visit our bookstore.  He is obsessed with a new series and can’t wait for Amazon’s “Super Saver” 5-8 day shipping.  If we had a Nook or a Kindle, this problem would solve itself.  I admit that it would be nice to download books instantly, but we are both so attached to our paperbacks. We love the look of our crowded book shelves and we love the feel of paper.

Is it time for a sacrifice?  Is it time to join the ebook community?  And if so, how do we decide which reader to buy?  Please weigh in with comments on the Nook, Kindle, and any general experiences you’ve had with ebooks.

© Alexis Jenny, 2011.

Photo by goXunuReviews at Flickr.