I have noticed a new trend lately in ereader ownership – In an attempt to sort of beat the mutual incompatibility of different ereaders and thus different ebooks, more and more people seem to be taking the step of owning more than one ereader.   So what I am beginning to see is that people for example own a Kindle, a Sony and a Nook ereader and when travelling they cart all three of them around with them.   This way they can buy ebooks from pretty well any ebook seller with the assurance that without having to strip DRM, change formats or any such fiddly and annoying time wasters,they can simply read their ebooks on the appropriate ereader.

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A Tablet, or an ereader, how on earth to decide which is right for you?  I suspect that lots of you are totally confused by the competing claims of the supporters of the two types of device.    Both are claimed to be the last word in user friendliness and would seem to be exactly what you need to live a full and enjoyable life.

Well, this is obviously not the case, as they are in fact two totally different devices, designed for totally different uses too.

So, lets go back to basics here:

Tablets:

These are actually more or less computers in a different packaging.   Whether they are the ubiquitous iPad or one of the other makes, they all do much the same and have much the same possibilities as any other computer.   Actually the only real difference in reality between a tablet and any sort of “real” computer is the size and portability of the Tablet.  Here they are supreme, even a laptop or note book computer is too big to easily use whilst standing in a queue or on  a bus or whatever, but this can easily enough be done with any Tablet.

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What are the main ereaders available just now?   Well perhaps this table produced by the good folk at Publishing Trends might help you a wee bit.

They have concentrated on the few better known makers of ereaders and tablets here, ignoring all the European and Asian makers for some reason, so no mention of BeBook,  Bookeen, Hanvon and all of them, so it is obviously aimed at readers in the USA rather than the entire world, but nevertheless it does give a quick view of the main ereaders fromm the main players in this field.

To see the table in all its full sized glory, click on this link, and the PDF file will load on a separate window for you.  Enjoy it, and I hope it is something of a help to you.

Ereader comparison table.

Source:  With thanks to Publishing Tends.

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Was this any help to you, or is it too simplistic to really help?  Do let me know, so I can improve matters when I get myself together enough to produce one myself.

These days it can be complex choosing an ereader,, as there are so many models out there, and all claiming to be the ultimate reading device, obviously not possible.

So, if you are contemplating buying yourself an ereader, there are a few questions you should ask yourself before you decide which is for you, and I shall attempt here to point you at these questions and the answers you might get.

Reading is the main thing?

If what you want is to simply be able to read ebooks and have no real interest in a mobile device to watch videos, do your emailing, surf the web and so on, then a dedicated ereader is what you want, not an iPad, or any other sort of tablet.

You can of course read ebooks on any tablet, but it isn’t really an optimal experience, and the battery life is very short, so on long trips you will run out of power all too quickly.

So, once you have decided that what you want is a device to simply read ebooks with, you now know you want a dedicated ereader, and not a tablet.

So on to the next question.

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What do all those terms you see in ereader reviews actually mean? The world of ereaders and ebooks has developed its own secret language over the few years that they have been in existence, and many of you reasonably enough have trouble with what they actually mean.

Not all of us are serious computer buffs in fact, and are simply interested to know if a particular ereader or ebook is what we are looking for, and I gather from my mail bag, loads of you struggle with the whole pile of “in terms” that have grown up around these devices.

So, in the spirit of helpfulness, I shall endeavour to translate some of the most common terms you will come across when looking at ereader or ebook specifications.

So here we go………………..

Ereader:

A portable electronic device that is designed specifically for you to read ebooks (see “ebook” below) and nothing much more.

Ebook:

An electronic book designed to be read on an ereader, similar to any document you would read on a computer. These can be read on ereaders, tablets or computers.

Tablet:

Generally larger than ereaders, and also much more complex, basically all tablets (iPad, Galaxy and so on) are in fact computers built into a simple flat box, thus the term ‘tablet” as with the Biblical “tablets”. Highly portable computers in fact.

Tablets are only interesting if you wish to do much more than simply read electronic books – they cost much more than ereaders.

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There are a number of compelling reasons to only take your ereader with you when you head off to your summer beach vacation this (and any year). Reasons that will make your break so much more enjoyable and stress free.

No worries with the sun.

All e-Ink equipped ereaders, such as the Sony, Nook, Kindle and so on, are easy to read on a brightly sunlit beach or outdoor cafe terrace, unlike any Tablets, which will require you to either sit with a towel over your head to beat the sun’s washing out of the screen image or to perform some quite extraordinary contortions in order to be able to read what is on your screen.

Battery never flat.

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