ipad

Image borrowed from apple.se

For some time now I’ve been trying to reason with myself to find out if I REALLY NEED an iPad… Thing is, I have all those ebooks, mainly free from Dagens Nyheter as a bonus as a subscriber with activated digital subscription. Plus some other ebooks.

I am tempted. And reading a book on an iPad would feel OK – though I don’t want to read magazines/newspapers on screen but then prefer paper.

My present ebooks

When will I read these books without an iPad (the one top left I’ve created myself testing certain software)? I DO have a portable, a MacBook Pro, and nowadays the application iBooks also works on a computer, and not only on an iPad or iPhone. But to carry around the entire MBP to be able to read the digital books on the bus or the commuter train: I don’t think so.

Could of course read them on the iPhone… or? I’ve tried. Painful. The screen is way too small.

Or should I read them on my 24″ iMac? I don’t much fancy sitting in front of the iMac to read a book (just as I don’t fancy sitting in front of the iMac watching movies).

Warning when opening an ebook on a computer with regular OS and not iOS.

And the books are normally not designed for the computer, but only for iOS-objects. They DO work anyways though, but the navigation becomes more complicated, as the computer doesn’t have a touch screen.

Book pages example

If you change the size of the window for the book, the content of the book reflows, and so does the number of rows shown. The smaller the screen, the less content at each page. Some also argue that the layout and the typography of ebooks suffer from the media and that they do not get as visually attractive as a printed book. The techniques for creating them is still in its infancy… But that will change over time.

There are some added bonuses to an ebook compared to a book printed on paper. There can be several levels of information on one single page by links to additional information that is not shown unless you click on the link. Navigation is also more advanced than for a printed book where you just turn pages by hand.

ebookexample

Ebooks can also include animations, video and sound, just click on a link.

Screenshot from Yellow Submarine

Why an iPad and not some other pad? Because I am all Macintosh and have been since 1984. I have three Macs and two iPhones (the older one serving as alarm clock only). So why haven’t I bought an iPad yet? Of the same reason: I have three Macs and two iPhones… Do I REALLY NEED an iPad?

What makes me hesitate is that it costs a lot of money (that I don’t have). I also wouldn’t settle for the cheapest one without 3G and and only 16GB storage. I also wouldn’t settle for the iPad2 which is cheaper. The screen of the iPad2 is not as good as the retina screen on iPad Air. IF I buy, it has to be an iPad Air with reasonably much storage and with 3G (so I can connect from almost anywhere). They are SO nice. I’ve seen and touched them.

It costs to be on top…