Musing Monday..Sold My Soul to the Company E-Reader

Nice and early Monday morning, so let's head over and see what MizB at Should Be Reading is asking this week...

This week’s musing asks…

What devices –if any– do you read books on? Do you find it enjoyable, or still somewhat bothersome? 

Or: If you only read the print books, why haven’t you chosen to read on any devices?

Oh my..this opens a kettle of fish. I may have to eat a bit of crow.

If you have been reading my wee blog for awhile, you may remember my past rants about e-books. Yes, they were rants.
And while I have not really changed my mind about them, the Evil E-Readers, threatening the future of books and the very basis of civilization, I gave in and went over to the dark side.
And then the dark side got even bigger.
And bigger.

I started with a Nook, the original e-ink Nook. I choose the Nook because at the time you could not download library books or books from NetGalley to the Kindle and since Borders was on the verge of collapse and the Kobo was tied to them, I went with what I considered the best bet. And I had to admit, I started to like my Nook.
But then they came out with the Nook color...and I had to have one. What can I say, I like the bells and whistles. Do not fear. The original did not go to waste since I gave it to the Sil.

Of course, I had to add the Nook and Kindle apps to my phone.
And my netbook.
And my brand new iPad.

Ok, this may be getting out of hand.

See, on the one side, I love the new, shiny gadgets. Even without the whole book reading ability, I would still love these toys. Because all of them, the phone, the iPad, the netbook, even the Nook Color, offer other things. You can play games, and check your calender, get your e-mail, access the internet, listen to music..and read books.
All at the same time maybe. 

But as to the original question, "Do you find it enjoyable, or still somewhat bothersome?"
Well, push come to shove, I still prefer a "real" book. I love to look at a nice cover, some nice art, some interesting graphic. I like to flip the page. I just love the look and feel of a book.

That being said, I do recognize that there are certain advantages to e-books and e-readers. Not having to find more space to pile all these books is a good thing. For travel, you can not beat them. Dozens, hundreds of book, all in one little package, so tidy. And being able to have a nice assortment of books on the reader comes in handy. As I have mentioned, I work shift work and in the early hours of the morning, when I get a chance to do some reading at times, these is nothing worse than being stuck with a stinker of a book and having nothing else to read. But with my Nook..or even my phone if I forgot the Nook..I have a bunch more to pick from.

Add in the ability to borrow some, if not all, library books to an e-device and to get books, if for a limited time, for review from NetGalley, easily downloaded to my Nook, and a large number of free books from a number of online sources...well, there are a lot of cheap and free books out there for e-readers. And you know I am in desperate need of some books to read.
Not.

Just in terms of reading, I think the Nook is the most pleasurable experience, short of a real book, and the phone the least. But still, even with the small screen, I still find the phone perfectly acceptable and have read several whole books on it. It's one huge advantage is that it is always there, in my pocket or bag.

And there is something so comforting about that.