I finally bought an eReader. Not the Kindle or Nook, I went with Kobo. Why? In the January 2012 issue of WIRED (p.45), Tim Carmody rated the Kobo Touch as best among the digital ink tablets. The dude knows his stuff. I agree with his assessment that the world is big enough for both eReaders and full-fledged tablets. If I want a larger screen for Angry Birds, then I'll buy an iPad. What I want from Kobo is a handy device to ease the burden on my strained book shelves. I love paper too, but not everything needs to be bound printed material.
Kobo is intuitive with a highly responsive touch screen. With other eReaders I looked at, there was always a moment when I got lost in the navigation. Whereas with Kobo, I didn't have this problem. I like that the Kobo syncs with other devices (computer, smart phone, etc). So, if for some reason I'm away from my eReader, I can still access my books. I also think the "Reading Life" program is cool. I can earn badges for reading. Shut up. It's cool.
The only drawback? The "over 2.5 million books, newspapers and magazines" is a bit misleading. It's more like "over 2.499999 million books plus 20 newspapers and 12 magazines." I'd love to read the New Yorker or Atlantic (and D!) on Kobo. Hopefully, they'll be onboard eventually. The New York Times is available, but I just can't justify $19.99 a month for it. That's $240 a year. Still, it's only slightly more expensive than a monthly subscription to the Dallas Morning News. I might try out the two week free trial.
