Reading the reader

 By Clare Mitchell Crow

Late last year I had the pleasure of interviewing Marc Sands, Director of Marketing at Guardian News & Media, and I remember him stating that he thought, given time, ebook devices would have a profound impact on our consumption of written materials. Not being an early adopter, I had heard of them yes, but at that time had never actually seen one in use.

I spend a decent amount of time commuting and travelling overseas for work and in the past few months I have seen just two people use them – however, style seekers take note, as a result of my contributions to Foviance’s thought leadership, I too am now the proud owner of a reader, I wondered how the reader would change my reading habits, if at all. Would it offer everything I want or expect from a book? I have been using my reader on my commute to our London office.

It’s a bit too early to say if the reader can replace a book for me. But my first impressions were that it was super slim and sleek. And after an initial usabilty error of trying to turn it on by ejecting a memory card, I have been impressed with its range of ‘book’ features.

And, now, after a few days of reading, I can tell you what I like: I like that it was shipped with a hard cover that not only protects it but also allows me to feel like I am holding an open book. At the touch of a button I can bookmark my page. When you turn it on, the first menu item it offers is to ‘continue reading’, so it is easy to return to where you last were – no more lost bookmarks or dog-eared pages.

I know there is far more to explore in this brave new world. I am keen to get the end of my first ebook, and then I’ll be in the position to comment on issues such as battery life, how I go about buying new titles, the glare resistant screen that I hear so much about, and on whether the user experience can match the feeling of getting lost in a book.