Touching Paper

My husband is a bit (A LOT) of a tech nerd. While we don't currently have the money to buy all the latest gadgets, we do tend to purchase quite a few. Usually I am skeptical. Why do I need the fanciest new technology when my old stuff works just fine? But, I can usually be swayed when I become addicted to the genius of our new purchase.

Take my laptop. I got my new touchscreen laptop this past summer when my old laptop decided to commit suicide. At first, I was really afraid to use the screen. My husband went from telling me not to push on the screen of my old laptop to encouraging me to play with the new screen. After a while I got used to it. Now, I am in love. I find it incredibly useful for taking notes in class and for simply increasing my coolness factor.

In the past year I have watched a lot of my friends purchase a Kindle or similar e-reader. I just can't convince myself that I want one. Part of what I love about reading is holding the book in my hands. I like the feel of the ink on the paper. I love turning the pages and seeing how far I've read and how far I have left to go. E-readers take all this away. Sure they are lighter, but assuming I'm not reading War and Peace this isn't really an issue. My other resistance is because of the battery. I am famous for letting my electronics die. My mp3 player has not been used in weeks simply because I've let it die and can't be bothered to hook it up to my laptop for an hour to recharge it. How often would I find that my e-reader was dead and I wouldn't be able to read when I wanted to?

On the other hand, I travel quite a bit. Both of our parents live on the other side of the country so we make a trip to each place at least once a year. In addition, I'm out of the country for a month or more working on a research project. I can see how useful it would be to load up my e-reader before such a trip instead of attempting to haul multiple novels to the other side of the world.

Has anyone made the switch? Do you love it or hate it?