eBooks

Until now, I've avoided eBooks. It was just too uncomfortable for me reading stories on a big computer screen, compared to good old books. You have to sit in your computer chair, click through the pages, it just doesn't feel right. I've only ever read one eBook on a computer, and that was The Zombie Survival Guide by Max Brooks, on my laptop. In bed, before going to sleep. The book is great, entertaining enough to make up for the absent comfort. But after that, I just haven't found any book interesting enough to read on a computer but not interesting enough to not warrant buying a real copy.

Today, out of the blue, the idea sprang into my mind that I look up eBook reader apps for my newly acquired HTC Wildfire. It doesn't have a big screen, so I wasn't really expecting much, but to my surprise, after downloading the Aldiko eBook reader, I'm really hooked. You can import your own PDFs and ePub format files. I've only tried it out for one train ride now, so I can't really say much but as a first look, it's awesome. I imported some issues of the Hacker Monthly Magazine, which I subscribed to for free approx. 1 year ago for a student programme.

I'm absolutely loving it. Even on my small screen, you can read without any discomfort, scrolling through the pages is fast, and I have nothing bad to say about it. There's also a store, of course, but I'm still a bit reserved about buying eBooks. In my experience, they're almost as expensive as their real live counterparts, which is unjustified in my opinion. If I have the choice of buying a new book for 20€ as a hard copy or as an eBook, my choice will always be the real copy. Here comes the big BUT: A lot of classics are available for free from the store! And, as we all know, classics are the best. I've downloaded The Divine Comedy, since I wanted to read it for years now. There's a lot of other great stuff too, like Dracula, Frankenstein, War & Peace, and so on. Also there's a section for independent authors and a lot of the books on there are free too. I'm looking forward to dig around them!

So, I've arrived in the world of eBooks. I'm thrilled to see what's awaiting me there.