Who's actually going to use the iPad as an e-reader?

[illutionz]

A lot of people will pull up a book, say "yep, it lets me read books," and then go back to Facebook.

I doubt many will sit and spend 2 hours reading at a time.

The guy who said the Kindle's screen fades in direct sunlight has no idea what he's talking about. It looks its best in well-lit places. The brighter the light, the easier it is to read.

The Kindle is genius for sitting and reading text for extended periods of time. But the world is full of people who don't do that, and constantly gripe about why the Kindle doesn't do things it was never intended to do and shouldn't do, such as surf the Web competently. Those people will convince themselves (in many cases have already convinced themselves) that the iPad is a "better e-reader than the Kindle". Then they'll go about their lives reading no more than 1,000 words at a time.

I think the iPad might be good for newspapers and magazines, but I really find it farfetched that more than a handful of people will read War & Peace or The Brothers Karamazov start to finish on an iPad.

Before I bought my Kindle 2, I read a couple books cover to cover from Kindle Apps for iPhone... Call me crazy

 

[h00ligan]

Whilst I'll be using it as an ereader, I won't be buying books at $15 for an ecopy. I live right next to a used book store and get hardbacks for about $8 and paperbacks for 2-3. I'm not sure why the publishers think they should charge more for an electronic version than a hard copy - it's ridiculous. If I can buy a paperback new for $5.99-$7.99 why pay $13-15 for one I can't loan or give away? Tech books perhaps as reference manuals with searching is another story - but certainly not fiction at those prices.

 

[3N16MA]

It is not the main reason why I will be buying an iPad but I will use it as an e-reader. I could never justify spending $250+ on a good stand alone e-reader considering I'm not an avid reader. However the iPad is so much more and the value just seems better. I'm currently taking a literature class as one of my electives in college this semester and it has spurred my interest in reading again. I will most likely be reading on the iPad a lot more than I did before.