Downside to ereaders: The batteries die at the worst times
Last night I was laying in bed and reading Neil Gaiman’s Neverwhere on my trusty Sony PRS-500. Only a few minutes into reading I accidentally hit a wrong button and ‘lost’ my place in the book. The battery power was already getting low, but my rapid page turning to get back to the page I was on drained the battery for good.
I was forced to go to bed with my typical 30-45 minutes of reading before going to sleep. While it wasn’t the end of the world, it was an inconvenience. And as I laid there in the dark, I realized that the battery life of ereading devices just might be the biggest inconvenience for ebook lovers.
Before I go any further, I should make a clarification. I’ve been reading on my PRS-500, on the same charge, since July 31. That includes daily reading! So it is not like I charged the device only a few days ago and the battery died on me last night. While I wish the battery lasted longer, it can certainly hold a charge for a decent amount of time.
Yet for those of you who love and embrace ebooks, the battery life of your device is one factor you’ll have to take into consideration. Batteries die. And they usually die (thanks to Murphy’s Law) at the worst possible times (i.e. reading in bed at night, halfway through a long trans-Atlantic flight, etc).
Of course, you can minimize this annoyance by knowing what the battery life on your device is and planning accordingly. I now know that when the battery indicator gets down to one bar on my PRS-500, it’s time to plug it in.
Ebooks offer much more convenience and benefits, however, that outweigh any inconvenience from a dead battery. For example, in my recent post Paperless Travel I described taking a cross-country trip with multiple books loaded onto one device. I’m also able to buy ebooks from the comfort of my own home, thus eliminating a need to go to the bookstore. These are just two conveniences ebooks offer and there are many more.
I think you get the point.
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