I want an eReader. I will admit that I was not initially a fan of eReaders because, to me, they seemed like a glorified waste of money. I say glorified because it seems to me that people frequently believe, or would like to believe, that they read, when in fact they don’t. Plenty of people like the idea of reading, but many of those same people usually end up watching American Idol instead of entertaining themselves with a book. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t think that there is anything wrong with watching American Idol instead of reading a book, but I think spending $250 on an eReader when AI is your preference is wrong. There is this whole market for eReaders that to me felt like a waste of money. Think of all the things $250 could buy you that would be so much more useful! But I digress. The point of the matter is that since the inception of eReaders to the literary market, the price has been to high for too little. That is, until now. May I now have the pleasure of introducing to you, the Kobo. The Kobo is an up and coming eReader (taking pre-orders online) with the simple yet clean style of a Nook, and the utility of a Kindle, but at almost half the price. Both the Nook and Kindle retail at $259, while the Kobo is priced at $149! Even the sub-eReader Sony Pocket costs more at $199.
How can this be? Why such a dramatic price difference? Well, it seems to me that the Kobo’s features are simplified. First, there is no 3G connection, just USB and Bluetooth to get your books on the device. Bluetooth maybe a new term associated with eReaders, but the Kobo solves the problem of syncing books on the go by connecting to a mobile phone (also equipped with the Kobo software). The Kobo also slims down on size. The screen is the same 6″ diagonal the Nook and Kindle share, but, the Kobo is thinner and lighter. It also slims down on random functions, for example, instead of the 6 font sizes available on the Kindle, the Kobo has 5; and instead of a grey scale level of 16 like the Nook and Kindle, the Kobo has 8. To me, all these little details are trivial. Who cares how many different colors of grey are used to read the black and white electronic pages, you can read just as well with 8 as you can with 16. The Kobo also reads more formats than the Kindle, although still less than the Nook, but it uses one of the most popular, ePub, as well as PDF’s and Adobe DRM.
