It is no secret that eBooks are big these days. The Amazon kindle apparently sparked a digital revolution while everyone was distracted by things like the iPod Touch and the EeePC. Being a staunch user of TabletPCs for over 5 years, I am familiar with the concept of digital books, since it was through the TabletPC that I was introduced to this form of media.

When I owned my first TabletPC, a Compaq TC1000, I shifted my subscriptions to technology magazines to a service called Zinio. Unfortunately, that service now only hosts one of the tech mags that I read from time to time. And the digital issue is sometimes more expensive than the paper copy. So I have given that up, but it was a neat introduction to the concept of consuming print content electronically.

And it was also a stark contrast to the version of that concept that has risen to popularity today. Most people these days are using eBooks to either actually read books, vice magazines, or are using them to absorb other periodical content, such as newspapers. While I have tended to be an early adopter, and am on board with the concept of eBooks themselves, I have yet to get onboard with an eBook reader itself.

I tend to read more web content these days, and after that would still come technology magazines. I know; call me an illiterate. I have been mixing eBooks into my repertoire, however, although this has been via downloading eBooks to my Fujitsu U820 UMPC. Specifically, these days I am into the True Blood novels in electronic format. Again, I have no problems with the media format itself. I just have yet to grasp the rationalization of the hardware.

If I were to invest in an eBook reader, it would need to be capable of doing more than rendering print in digital ink. Even with the increasing number of features that are being stuffed into the wire-thin devices, most of them can still not render in color. I would need to be able to consume multiple forms of reading content on the device, including web content and digital magazines, both of which, for my use, would require color rendering. The only one on the market that I know of is the Fujitsu Flepia, and it costs a cool grand. More devices are coming, and several have marketing campaigns saying that they will be the first to market with a color screen. We'll see. Point is, they are not here yet.

Some of the impending Tablets that are going to be hitting the market (an iTablet maybe? Although I am more interested in the concept of Microsoft's Courier). In order to hit the sweet spot for the type of eReader use I would want, they would need to have 7" to 10" screeens, so that a magazine page could be rendered similar to its print layout equivalent. Maybe this is just wishful thinking on my part. I guess my deal is that if I am going to switch to an eBook Reader, then I never want to have to buy anything in print...ever...again.

Finally, the concept of paying the current price for an eBook Reader, which in many cases will net you a halfway decent MID that can be used for more than just reading, does not pass the smell test for me. My U820 was much more expensive (I bought it just before some of the less expensive devices were available in quantity), but it also allows me to do a heck of a lot more on the go than an eBook Reader does. When you cast your gaze around the marketplace today, and consider that the $490 price tag on an Amazon Kindle DX gets you within almost $100 of a Viliv X70, it just does not make sense to me to pay for a Kindle.

I love this product category, though, for the potential it represents. What I hope is that more general purpose devices debut that can handle the eBook Reader function, while providing for some concurrent limited productivity while on the go, and in the same form factor that eBook Readers currently have. We may be several years from the tangible realization of this concept. Until "it" gets here, I am content to pay a little extra for UMPCs or MIDs that can do whatever everyone else's eBook Reader can, and then some.

- Vr/Zeuxidamas