Tuesday, August 17, 2010

How the IPad Changed My Reading Habits
By Jonathan Seff, Macworld writing in PCWorld


The iPad is a curious device-not quite an iPod, not quite a laptop. I typically bring it to work with me during the day, and keep it on my nightstand at home at other times.
 And although I use it for many different purposes-checking e-mail, ordering from Amazon, catching up on Twitter, controlling one of the Macs in the other room-what I've really noticed is how the iPad has changed how and what I read.
Before the iPad, I had never read an entire book on a portable device. I'd read bits and pieces using the Kindle app on my iPhone (including a 25 cent version of Alice in Wonderland) but I don't own Kindle hardware.

I tested out the iBookstore by purchasing Samantha Bee's I Know I Am, But What Are You?. After adjusting the font, type size, and brightness to my liking (and turning on the Sepia background option) I enjoyed breezing through the book, without worrying about remembering my place. The iPad is heavier than other e-book-only devices, but I haven't found it oppressively so.

A nice thing about the iPad (or Kindle or Nook or other e-reader) is the ability to download and carry multiple books with you for a vacation, say, rather than schlep around lots of heavy tomes. Or buy a new book from your hotel room without having to care about finding the nearest bookstore (and worry about its selection).

Having finished that first book, I've now moved on to Christopher Hitchens' Hitch-22: A Memoir.

Full piece at PCWorld.

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