Meljean’s e-reader review (kind of)
So, after Jill talked about her ebook reader, I thought I should have a review of mine. Except I don’t really have a dedicated ebook reader, because I’ve been waiting until every ebook distributor and publisher decides to use one ebook format (epub w/no DRM? kthxbai). Meljean hateses proprietary formats, she does.
Until then, I’m content to wait until I shell out $150+ for a dedicated reader. I still buy mostly print books, anyway, and so when I actually have time to read again, it probably won’t be with an ebook reader. But! there are hard-to-find books and epub books that are available digitally that I can’t get in print, and it would be nice to have something other than my computer to read them on.
So when my old cell phone (seriously, this thing was embarrassingly old) died about three weeks ago and I went in to shell out the cash for a new one, I found out that there is this magical thing called an upgrade … that everyone in the world has used but me. So I realized that I could get a smartphone for supercheap, I went for the iPhone.
(This, despite knowing that my husband would laugh and laugh and laugh at me. He does not love the near-worship of the iPhone we’ve seen in some of our friends.)
But it made sense for me, because a) I don’t talk on the phone anyway, so there’s no point in even having a cell phone that can’t check e-mail, and b) I can download Stanza and the Kindle app and the B&N ebook reader app, and have my little ebook reader as needed.
And I also thought: this will be the best way to sneak in a few pages of a book every day. Because, seriously, the only time that I lift up my head from my computer and this book (I didn’t even check my e-mail for days this week) is when I drive to school to pick the husband and the kid up. So I got the apps, and this is my review of the iPhone as an ebook reader.
The first thing I did (because I don’t have any of my own books in ebook format, and because I wanted to see how the sample looked to anyone who was browsing through them) was download the sample of my latest book. Yay! So pretty and awesome–
So the next day in the parking lot, I open up the Demon Forged sample. OMG, there’s a 40 page excerpt! That’s totally awesome! I swipe page after page! I love how this thing works, the swiping thing. So I swipe and swipe through the front matter, swipe and swipe to see the excerpt, past copyright pages and title pages and acknowledgments, and there is my CHAPTER ONE! The excerpt, finally! …on page 39 of 40.
Oh, and then the kid comes:
The next day, I decide to just read a few pages of Pride & Prejudice, since I’ve read it a million times and that way when I get home I can get back to work without…
HERE COMES THE KID! WAIT JUST A SECOND JUST ONE PAGE–
Okay, yeah, that didn’t work. And then, the next day in the parking lot, I pull out the iPhone and think I’m going to check out the Kindle app, but then here comes the iPhone-mocking husband!
So, okay. To sum up.
The iPhone might be a decent ebook reading device, but it is a GREAT way to keep your family entertained while you are writing books.
THE END.