I have been tempted to go the eReader route lately, but have found myself unable to pull the trigger.  Between the Kindle, Nook, and Sony eReader you would think I would be able to settle on a device and join the rest of the happy tech masses in the eBook revolution. I just can’t, however.  Each device has a limitation.

I think the Kindle is the leader of all the devices right now. In my limited research, it appears to have the best online selection of books, and Amazon beats B&N on eBook pricing in a lot of cases.  So why not the Kindle? No WiFi in the device.  I just can’t bring myself to buy a device that does not have WiFi built-in.  I know it has free 3G, but you KNOW at some point there will be a version of Kindle with WiFi, and I don’t want to be suffering from buyer’s remorse later for a feature I think is a no-brainer today.  I’m pretty sure it doesn’t support some of the open ePub formats either.

The Nook is a nice device.  It seems a bit slower than the Kindle, but not a lot.  It feels a lot heavier, but it only an ounce heavier so not sure what my deal is there.  But, B&N has a smaller selection of eBooks right now (I have found several titles on Amazon but not on B&N) and they do charge more often enough that I am left wondering WTF.  I thought the color screen was a nice touch, but its input is just slow enough that I know it would drive me nuts.

Lastly, there is  the Sony eReader.  Whatever…. it is a very nice device.  In some ways, I like it better than the other devices, but it has a limited book catalog as well and it just feels like an “outlier” device.  That could be a very bad perception on my part, but this whole thing is about perception so it is what it is.  Impulse buys like this are often made or broken on perceptions. Throw in the fact that it is the least connected of the three devices and that is uses those God awful Sony memory sticks (get on board with microSD, morons!) and its a non-starter.

I’m left feeling that I will have to just sit on the sidelines for another 12 months or so and see what the next generation of devices yields.  It would be nice to have a true “all in one” reader and web browsing device. That would be awesome.  I still worry about the comfort of the form factor.  Books just seem to be a fit for reading anywhere.  Hard for me to picture holding a thin eReader in my dimly lit bedroom while propped up by a pillow reading one of these devices.  But I do like not lugging multiple books around on trips and being able to change the font type and size.

Oh well… T-minus 12 months and counting…