The Friday Five

One of my favorite places to hang out when I was a kid was the library. Sometimes I would just wander through the stacks running my hand along the spines of the books. I used to dream of one day having a library of my very own. Floor to ceiling bookshelves and a ladder on caster tracks to reach the highest shelf and roll from wall to wall.

I also love electronics. Shiny, sleek gadgets, with glowing screens and the gentle hum of power. Wouldn't it be great if someone could put a library ino the palm of your hand? Enter e-readers and my dream come true.

1. iPad. A Holy Grail of bells and whistles is out of my price range unless I win a lottery. I think I have a better chance of being struck by lighting.

2. Kindle. Affordable. 3500 book storage. Be still my heart. Wi-Fi and free 3G for life. Limited Internet. Upload your own PDF files, but may need to pay small upload and reformatting charge

I was lusting after the Kindle and came very close to purchasing, but as I always think when a new gadget comes down the Pike, will something better come along shortly? Should I jump in or wait and see?

3. Barnes and Noble Nook COLOR. Affordable. Wi-Fi and an SD slot. Be still my heart SD. That means unlimited amounts of storage. That means more than 3500 books even if I couldn't read them all in my lifetime. Upload PDF files with USB cable. No fee

4. Wi-Fi vs. 3G. Wi-Fi not as fast as 3G still able to connect to my own home network and can pickup the hotspot in any Barnes and Noble store, airports

5. 3G fast and free for life. But what happens when  4G (that is fourth generation) comes along? Will 3G still be supported and will it still be free or is that for a short time only?

I am leaning towards the Nook Color.  with the SD slot the storage becomes giddily unlimited. Color makes it atrractive to read magazines. I have some PDF art technique reference files and would be nice to have them handy to the drafting table instead of running back and forth to the desktop or having to print out and store a hardcopy. ditto recipes in the kitchen. Not having to pay even a minimal fee is attractive too. I was hoping to see a demo at my local Barnes and Noble, but as the product hasn't been released yet, the store didn't have one. They are supposed to get one in on Black Friday (sales high holy day the Friday after Thanksgiving). I'll wait until Monday to go see it as the crush of crowds and the thrill of the hunt do not beckon me.

Now, if someone could just create a device: lightweight, thin, small, but with a large enough screen, powerful to surf the web, color, capable of unlimited storage and had phone capabilities (with a Blue Tooth headset for privacy) so I didn't have to carry around a bunch of devices: laptop or netbook, phone, and e-reader, I'd be right there.

What do you think?