I Won!
The folks over at Smart Bitches, Trashy Books somehow managed to get their hot little hands on 30 Sony eReaders to loan out. Thanks to a timely email from Dechion, I felt compelled to go ahead and enter for a chance to be one of the lucky book-lovers who gets to test drive one of these hot little numbers for a month.
And I won! Out of a pool of over 200 applicants, which sets my head to spinning if I think about it too much!
(You’ll note that today’s icon is the Sony 700 series eReader. I’m nothing if not optimistic! It could be either the 700 or the 505 that I get to test.)
What Does This Mean?
I’ll get to “borrow” the eReader for a month. I also get a $25 gift certificate from Harlequin (yes, the romance folks. Those of you snickering in the back now have detention for a week.) to buy eBooks to test on it.
For this privilege, I owe three reviews – whether they be limerick, podcast, blog entry, or mural is up to me. Two reviews of the eReader itself, and one review of whichever Harlequin romance I get using the gift certificate. I imagine I’ll probably twist Bre’s arm and make one of them a podcast. Because hey, what’s the point of having a writing and reading podcast if I don’t use it for my own devious purposes?
*AIRPUNCH*
I’m excited, to put it mildly. While I believe that eReaders and eBooks will never fully replace deadtree books, I do believe that they are the wave of the future (some believe they are the wave of the present, but I agree with JA Konrath that we aren’t quite there yet). The opportunity to test drive these models for a whole month without buying is incredible. And I say this with a mouthful of cat hair from the last time I sat down with a paperback book and my beloved feline decided that ON MY FACE was the most comfortable nap spot in the apartment.
And since I’m a sucker for a good cuddle, I didn’t want to move him, which made turning the pages an interesting feat.
Will the Sony eReader suit my lifestyle and the way I read?
I do not know.
However, I fully intend to find out. And I also intend to give all of you the inside scoop on what I learn.
Now, if you’ll excuse me, I need to find a secluded corner to do yet another victory dance in. (If you’d ever seen my victory dance, you’d be grateful that it’s in a secluded corner. I was spotted once, and the only way I could save face was to pretend that I was trying to squash a bunch of ants. Vigorously. With my whole body. To music.)
I find your lack of comments…disturrrbing.
@Rhotley
*laughs* Most people probably just think, “Grats!” which is a bit of a smallish comment to make the effort to come and make. ^_^
@Tami
While that is true, I mainly wanted to slide in the witty Vader quote that I thought of.
/pats self on back for being witty…
@Rhotley
*pats you on the back as well*
I wish I could think of an appropriate Star Wars quote to conclude this with, but my brain is firmly in OFF position.
Impossible! No one wins anything. ;)
I’m interested to read your review. The gadgets look neat, in and of themselves. “e-paper” and always being connected to the internet (for free) have interested me for awhile about the Kindle. Unfortunately, I don’t like the closed-format nature of the Kindle and I don’t really have much need for something I can take with me.
I don’t think it will ever really replace “dead-tree” books — I doubt anything will. I do think it’s best seen as a supplement (take your library and newspapers with you in one convenient and easy to read machine) or as a cost-cutting (maybe replace textbooks and give discounts to schools) or increased access measure (rare or very old books). The problem with the textbook thought is that kids are destructive and these buggers cost too much (and likely always will).
@Brad-o
*laughs*
I’m interested to give the review! I don’t have an outstanding NEED for one – I’m not in the military, nor do I have a long commute where I’m not driving (bus, train, etc). I’m basically average joe on this one, so it’ll be interesting to see how I like it.
I loved your thoughts on the textbook and rare books – I hadn’t thought of that, and it’s a great note on it. I definitely agree that deadtree books ain’t going nowhere. They’ll just be my treasured books rather than anything I might want to read again.
I wonder if there’s a “search for” feature in the eReader – that would make research through books a lot easier, in theory.
Congrats fellow reader! Can’t wait to start fondling my Sony reader for our little summer fling…
Love the layout of your site btw!
@MamaNice
*laughs* Summer fling indeed. Scandalous!
Thanks for the comment on the layout! I fell in love with the theme immediately, just like it happens in the dime store romances (except gasping melodramatically about SEO and CSS is romantic only to web programmers).
Wait…SEO and CSS aren’t intrinsically sexy?
@Brad-o
Nope. Apparently most people like…cars. And leather jackets.
@Tami,
That seems about as likely as baseball being enjoyable.
I cannot wait for your review. I am very interested in “e-books/e-readers” but have been put off by all the DRM issues especially with the kindle.
It would also be interesting if you grabbed a book or 2 from one of the free sites (project gutenberg for example) to see how easily that could be formatted/loaded/read etc on the Sony.
Looking forward to it!
@Duniness
That’s a great idea! I plan on trying one of the Baen free eBooks for sure, but I didn’t know about the Project Gutenberg.
Any sites in particular you’d like me to check out?