If youre an old-fashioned lover of books in their purest form (paper), you may have shied away from ebook readers and the digital book revolution. Still, its hard to beat the convenience of having a thousand titles at your fingertips, especially if youre heading off on vacation and purse- or suitcase-space is limited. Maybe its time to go with the flow and give the technology a chance!

If youre ready to try an ebook reader, then you have several options. Lets take a look at the Amazon Kindle, the Barnes and Noble Nook, and the Sony Reader.

Amazon Kindle

The Kindle has been around for a while, and there are a couple of different versions at different price points for you to choose from. The Kindle allows you to download books from the Amazon store, as well as magazines and newspapers, all wirelessly, meaning you dont have to plug in and sync your ebook reader with your computer.

Most of the available ebooks are affordable as well (especially if youre in the habit of purchasing those pricy hardbacks as soon as they come out) with bestsellers running about .99 and many older books available for less. You can even find freebies you can download in the Amazon library.
The downside is that you can only purchase ebooks from the Amazon library, and the Kindle doesnt yet support the new industry standard for ebooks (ePub).

Currently, the basic 6 screen Kindle costs 9, and the souped up Kindle DX (10 screen) runs 9. The readers can hold 1,500 and 3,500 ebooks respectively.

Barnes and Noble Nook

A relatively new contender in the ebook reader marketplace, the Barnes and Noble Nook is associated with their store, but it also features ePub support (this means you can buy ebooks from other stores, too). Like the Kindle, it allows you to download books wirelessly, and it has a unique feature that lets you share your downloads with other readers for up to two weeks. The Nook stores 1,500 ebooks.

So far, reviews have been mixed, but its likely improvements will come with future models of this ebook reader. The cost for their current reader is 9.

Sony Reader

With more than five years in the ebook reader business, Sony has some experience, and it shows with their intelligent and well-designed devices. Their current offerings are the Pocket Reader (0), the Touch Reader (0), and the Sony Reader Daily Edition (0).

Their readers support multiple file formats, including ePub and PDF, and they also allow access to all the free public domain titles in the Google Books library (lots of classics and older books available here).

If you hold out longer, the future will likely bring you even more options. For example, Apple is rumored to be working on an ebook reader. And, of course, there are other options out there from smaller manufacturers, so look around before you make your final decision!