USA Today had an interesting, rather long piece today on all the new ways that e-reading changes the reading experience for its fans. Citing stories like a playwright being inspired by something he heard on the radio and downloading some e-books on the subject to his iPad then and there, or people who like the way Amazon syncs their reading progress between their Kindle and their phone, the article reports that, “[f]or their devotees, ebooks have transformed the experience of reading.”
Some interviewed readers like the portability of having their entire library in their pocket, and even people who still prefer print books are starting to buy e-books for books they think they’ll only ever read once, to reduce clutter in their homes. This can lead to people purchasing books they even only think they might want to read, because they know they can do it without taking up extra space.
The article also goes into the ways that e-books can be more social than print books, both via social networking and via recommendation sites like Goodreads, and the ways authors are taking advantage of social networks to plug their e-books.
The article is a great roundup of information on e-book reading for people who still don’t know what it’s all about. It’s nice to see USA Today taking an interest.
