I bought an e-reader!

I have always loved electronic gadgets of all sorts.  I can't do without my iPod or my GPS, and I have always enjoyed helping other people pick out their own electronic stuff (as when I helped my sister shop for a netbook last year).  But I had been restraining my natural gadget-buying impulses while I was job-hunting, for obvious reasons.  Meanwhile the e-book reading phenomenon has been growing and growing and growing....and I've been watching from the sidelines, waiting for the right moment to jump in.

Well, I woke up on Saturday morning with a very strong desire to go gadget-shopping. <g>  I've wanted an e-reader for a long time, and when I heard about the new Nook Color offered by Barnes & Noble, it sounded like just the sort of thing I've been looking for.  (Here's a review from PC Magazine, if you're interested.)

• The Nook Color is primarily intended as an e-reader, so the functions are designed and optimized for reading books.
• It comes with a fully functional web browser (hence the advantage of the color screen), so I can check email, read messages on Compuserve, or whatever, and then switch right back to the book I was reading, without losing my place.  It's a bit awkward and slow to type with the touch-screen keypad, but I'm sure I'll get used to that pretty quickly.
• It's small (about 8"x5", with a 7" screen) and lightweight, comfortable to hold in one hand, easy to read in bed or lying on the couch.
• Unlike the Kindle, I can use it to download e-books from the library for free.  (I ended up actually buying the Nook at my local B&N, and when I paid for it, the salesperson handed me an information sheet with instructions on how to connect to the county library's web site to download books.)

So far I'm really happy with it, and having a lot of fun playing around with the various functions.  The Nook Color connects to the Internet through Wifi, and I had no trouble connecting it to the wireless network from home.  (I had upgraded my router a few weeks ago in anticipation of just such a purchase, though at the time I didn't know if I wanted a laptop, netbook, e-reader, or tablet.)  There are supposed to be extra features available if you actually bring your Nook to a Barnes & Noble store, but I haven't had a chance to try that yet.

Anyway, I'm very excited about my first foray into the world of e-readers! This is, as you may have guessed, my way of celebrating the new job I started two weeks ago. <vbg>

I'm glad I held out this long, actually, because the Nook Color is a new model that only came out this past fall.  As the PC Magazine review says:

More than an ebook reader, less than a full-blown tablet, the Nook Color's artful compromises make for a compelling, color reading experience that is ideal for both books and magazines.

It has most of the functionality of an iPad, for half the cost, and I'm sure I'll get a lot of use out of it.

There's more about the Nook Color on the B&N web site here.  If any of you have e-readers, I would be interested to hear what you think of them!  And if you have a Nook Color or know someone who does, I would really appreciate any tips on using it.

(No, I haven't yet downloaded any of the OUTLANDER books. <g>  But I'll probably do that today.)