Of eReaders and iPads

I have to confess I've been bewildered by much of the discussion around eReaders that I have been reading. These analyses seems to centre around the price of e-books and the aesthetics of the eReaders available - and the race to pull in readers, thus confirming one's company as eBook/eReader extraordinaire.

The discussion of cost seems to me to be, in the long term, a non-starter. It seems that various companies - to name no names - think that the way to make folks want eReaders and e-books is to make the books cheap, cheap, cheap. I agree that this strategy might get people on the electronic bandwagon sooner rather than later, but everything I've heard or read suggests that such a model is unrealistic in the long-term - if we desire, as I do, to have a flourishing literary society, with a wide range of excellent, beautifully edited offerings.

I began thinking about e-books, not because I want to save a few bucks (although I love a bargain as much as the next person), but because of an off-hand remark on the possibility of carrying Austen, Shakespeare, and Dante around wherever I went - heady stuff, indeed. A dear friend entered the e-book extravaganza recently (and very happily) with a Sony eReader because he wanted to avoid trucking heavy books around on the subway. He has been cheerfully reading seven- and eight-hundred page tomes ever since.

As I consider my future purchase, however, two largely undiscussed areas take on monumental proportions - space and availability.

The space I refer to is not, as it usually is, the memory capacity of any particular device. It is, in fact, space in my home. I'm actually relatively free of the flotsam of life, and I seldom acquire or hang on to welters of objects long past their prime - I'm downright spare - except for the books. I have shelf-after-shelf of floor-to-ceiling bookshelves packed two and three deep. I have books to read, to re-read, that I might read littering every surface.

The eReader offers an alternative to drowning in my own reading material- not to mention the increasing challenge of finding any particular volume when I want it. I even recently bought a second copy of a book I already own - something I often do on purpose (it's hard to turn down Pride and Prejudice at $1.99, even if I already have five copies) - without realizing it. Since deciding that I will be acquiring a device very soon, I have begun pruning the contents of my shelves. I just finished the 17th large grocery bag of tomes, and you really can't tell the difference on the shelves themselves. This boon - space - would be the first on my list of reasons to purchase an eReader - long before cheap books, cool design, or the desire to remain on the cutting edge.

Now, having made the all-important decision to take the plunge, how should I choose? Again, for me, the choice is driven by different desires than those I have primarily seen discussed. My priority is not that the device be book-only, large enough for a broadsheet, small enough for my handbag, back-lit, touchscreen, or anything else - although many of these things sound great. My priority is how to get the most books - not at a cheap price - just the most books. I not infrequently order volumes from Britain or Australia because I read a great review and that's where I can get the book. I clearly don't care - or don't care too much - about $9.99 vs. $19.99. I want to be able to get books from as many publishers as possible, and, given my reading habits, access to books that are not necessarily top twenty - although I read those too.

That's where, I hope, the iPad may come in. Because this device is app-driven, unless Apple goes loopy - which is possible if unlikely - the iPad is most likely to accept books from every kind of delivery system. Further, because Apple has a great record for creating universally useable software, updating their system, and providing excellent user support, it is my hope that the iPad will prove as close to universal a reader as possible. That is the reason I will not be buying a Kindle - I like Amazon's list very much, but I don't want to be limited to it - even at $9.99 a book.

So, just to round out my little rumination here, I did wonder at the forced pricing that I see discussed everywhere. This conversation seems to be rooted in the - erroneous - assumption that physical object is a major cost element of a book - it's not. Right now, if I really NEED to read a book that just came out, I swallow the hardcover price (and more importantly the hefty size) and buy it. Otherwise, I wait and purchase it when the trade-paper or paperback version comes out. I actually buy the most hardcover books during winter, march, and summer breaks - as a teacher, that's when I can spend a chunk of time reading, so that's when I buy what I want to read - even if it costs a bit more. Perhaps an answer to the dilemma of when to release e-versions of books could be answered by time rather than format. If I am going to purchase a newly published book, my motivation is time (because I'm impatient or because I, at that moment, have time). I will happily purchase an e-book at hardcover prices to get it when I want it - and to avoid adding another large volume to my overburdened shelves. If I am going to wait for the paperback, I'll wait until the paperback price is available for the e-book, too.

In the end, what I'm suggesting is that I may not be unique. People undoubtedly have many reasons for purchasing eReaders, and they may not be - or may not primarily be - the cost of the book itself. As we realize that we are buying content and not an object, as we as readers lose the erroneous assumption that we are getting less if our book arrives through the ether and cannot by weighed on a scale, we will instead think of the e-book as a wonderful book - that I must read this week, this month, or this year.

And before anyone says that I must be rich to take this attitude, I hasten to assure you that I'm not - although my book buying habits may, indeed, be responsible for that fact!