Life in Beta

I was working tonight and just happened to look down at my desk, realizing that the contents strewn across it are a pretty fair representation of “me” and of what’s going on in my life right now…

(More Wordless Wednesday posts)

Aw, crap. I really thought I had it all figured out. When I had a little extra money to burn, I thought I’d order an Amazon Kindle.

A couple people I know have them and adore them. I’ve been lusting after one, trying to convince myself it wasn’t necessary. At the same time, I’ve been buying and devouring books left and right lately and have been wondering if killing all those trees and taking up that much space on my bookshelves really makes sense when I could just invest in an e-book reader?

(I’m really good at justifying fun purchases.)

So then today Barnes & Noble has to go and bring it with their new Nook e-book reader.

Way to complicate my decision, B&N!

I’m not overly impressed by the Nook’s touch screen. In general (aside from the iPhone), touch screens just serve to piss me off. I’ve never had luck with them on any other device.

Also… the name “nook” is pretty lame.

There are a few features I like: You can put PDFs on it without having to send them to the device (for a small fee, as you do with the Kindle). I’d use this to carry around my knitting patterns (’cause I’m a big dork like that). I like that it has an expansion slot for more memory (though I can’t even imagine filling the Kindle’s 2GB). And I suppose it’s nice that it has wi-fi in addition to its AT&T cellular network connection.

Pricing on e-books between the Kindle book store and B&N e-book store are pretty similar. However, on B&N’s site, why is the “boxed set” of Sookie Stackhouse novels more expensive in e-book format than they are for paperback? (Like, $10 more expensive!? Am I reading that right?)

I’m stumped. However the Amazon.com fangirl in me is yelling “screw B&N!” Maybe if I’m lucky this will result in a Kindle 2 price drop? (Though they just dropped their price recently.) Wishful thinking.