The UK is catching up with the States in e-readers, and it seems to be escalating. However, they’ve always been more expensive over here, until recently. One thing to remember is that US prices are before tax, so once you’ve added on the sales tax, which depends on the state, you’re getting closer.

Now, with the release of the new Kindle and the opening of the UK Kindle store, people in the UK, and in Europe, have access to more books and more digital content than ever before.

So which one to buy?

I’ll explain my history with e-readers so you can understand where I’m coming from. I’ve always written for the ebook market, so I thought I’d better have one, as it would be hypocritical to write for it and not read in that format.

I bought an ebookwise years ago. I loved it so much that when the first one broke, I bought another, had a friend post it to me from the States, since they couldn’t sell to me direct. Fictionwise bought it, and enabled access to their bookstore, and since this was wifi, we had access. But fewer books were available for it, and the ebookwise required every book to be loaded in its proprietary format, it could be tricky. Even worse, you had to get a transformer to the charger, which got worryingly hot when the unit charged. And the display was a backlit screen, with a greenish tinge. It was a bit heavy too, not something you could slip into your pocket. But when I got a strong smell of burning every time I plugged it in, I realised it was time to move on.

Then I moved to an Ipaq 4700, a PDA. The four-inch screen was smaller than the ebookwise, but to compensate, it was crisp black and white, and ran from Windows Mobile. It also had an SD card slot, so you could load the books on that, and even transfer it between machines, if they had an SD card slot. I read in the mobi format, which works really well on the Windows Mobile platform, and will accept books in mobi, html and txt formats. I bought my books, put them on my pc, and loaded them up to my SD card when I wanted to read them. It worked beautifully. The 4700 has a touchpad, which is great for turning pages. The backlight never gave me problems, and was adjustable. Its main defects were that it was very difficult to read in sunlight, and the small screen could be a problem. But I’d have been happy with it, if iPaq had continued to make them. But, in the interests of ever newer models, they made others, which didn’t work as well for me and had smaller, poorer quality screens and a less robust build.

I’ve worn my iPaq out. The touchpad has stopped working, and it has some odd quirks that can drive me crazy and certainly doesn’t help with reading. It will skip pages, or refuse to turn, or skip to the end of the book. Infuriating. And with the acquisition of a Blackberry, I don’t need it as a portable reminder and general note taker any more. The Blackberry also takes mobipocket reader, which is great and will work fine for casual reading on the fly—queues, bus stops and things. Yes, I read all the time. Everywhere.

Time to look at the alternatives. I don’t think an iPad is suitable for daily reading. It’s too big, too heavy and not a device you can snuggle under the sheets with. Plus, it’s Apple, and since we’re a PC household, it doesn’t work well with Windows. I avoid Apple products whenever possible (hence the Blackberry which I’m now using as my MP3 player instead of my iPod). Not on principle, just because the software works so horribly with Windows. Designed to do so, I guess.

I opted for the Kindle, but there are other models available in the UK.

The one that is of limited use to us is the Nook. We don’t have Barnes and Noble over here, and no access to the bookstore. So if you buy that one, it will come from the States, will probably have problems with charging and connectivity. Although its adherents love it, I wouldn’t advise it for a UK reader.

With the new Kindle, the market has expanded. We’re seeing Kindle ads on the TV, and Amazon has opened its bookstore over here, so you can access it. At first they had problems because the network, whispernet, wasn’t available outside the States. But now they’ve done deals with European providers, and whispernet is available worldwide. The Kindle uses its own proprietary format, but it’s a DRM locked format based on the mobipocket platform, which Amazon now owns. Which is nuts to me, because I can sideload (that’s what loading from your computer is called) the books I already have.

I decided on the Kindle because of the new screen, which is clearer and has much better definition than before. When you buy an e-reader, it’s all down to that – the quality of the screen, and from all the accounts I’ve read and the youtube videos I’ve seen, the Kindle had it – until Sony introduced their new readers, which have the new screens, too. The screen is a six-inch one, and the device is available in two versions, the 3G with independent access to the ebookstore, and the wifi, which will connect anywhere there’s a wifi hotspot. Since in the UK, there are few locations without wifi, and since I have a library of ebooks already, I opted for wifi only. If you’re starting afresh, you might consider paying the extra £30 for the 3G. But with DRM, Amazon will have ultimate control of your books. DRM means that you can’t read that book on any other device and that you only lease the books, you’re not buying them as you might a paperback. Also, the author doesn’t get as good a cut as she does if you buy direct from the publisher. As a reader, there’s not much reason you should care about that, but I write too, so I know what that means to the author. Don’t agonise though – my Kindle royalties are very nice.

I avoid DRM whenever I can. Which is another reason to sideload my books. I know I can’t “share” or duplicate my books and spread them around, but I prefer to know that my books are mine, if you know what I mean. And the Kindle doesn’t have an SD card slot, which I dislike, because it means I can’t just load up my library and go. The Kindle also doesn’t have a touchscreen. For me, that’s no biggie, since I prefer the screens I read from to come without fingermarks. When I’m reading, I don’t actually use the touchscreen on the iPaq very much, so I don’t really need it.

As yet, no ereader has a backlight. The technology doesn’t allow it. Remember the old etch-a-sketch machines? The ereader screens work like a very sophisticated version of that, so no backlight is possible. Yet. That does bother me, because I do a lot of reading in bed, a lot at night (ereaders have been wonderful for helping me with my insomnia – it means I’m not lying in the dark staring into space while my partner slumbers peacefully). I have bought a couple of clip-on booklights, and I’ll see how they work with the Kindle.

I haven’t invested in a cover, since the lighted cover is £50, which I think is outrageously expensive. But if you want to treat yourself, it’s a very nice, real leather cover that does its job. I’m a bit arty-crafty, so I made a couple of covers, had a lot of fun doing so. The lights will clip to the cover or, with a bit of padding, to the device itself. I don’t know how well that will work, but I’m willing to give it a go.

But the Kindle is by far the cheapest e-reader in the UK. At £109, it brings the price right down. Over here, the iPad starts at £499, which is quite a hike.

I would also like colour, but since I read in black and white, it doesn’t matter a huge amount. What you’re getting when you buy an e-reader with an e-ink screen is a device that does one job really, really well. If you read a lot, it’s for you, or if you prefer your devices to do specific things, this is for you. If you want one device that does a lot of stuff, then look at the iPad, or wait for the market for the new tablets to die down. I’m looking at them myself, and I’ll probably invest in a seven- inch Android tablet in the fullness of time. But the market is just settling down.

The main rival to the Kindle in the UK is the Sony. Sony has just brought out new versions of their Pocket, Touch and DX with the same improvements in their screen as the Kindle. I seriously considered cancelling my Kindle order and getting a new Sony, but there are a few things I didn’t like. Okay, the price. The cheapest Sony starts at £149. It has a smaller screen at five inches. It does have a touchscreen and an SD slot though, so it’s definitely a contender. The build should be good, too. But it’s the smaller screen that made me pause. I have poor eyesight, and the bigger screen is much better when I have to use large print. The next model up is the Touch. It does have a six-inch screen, and would be the one for me, but it’s £199. The £80 difference is a lot to pay for an SD card slot. And I’d have to convert my mobipocket library to something else for the Sony, so there’s extra hassle involved. It has access to the Sony bookstore, which is gaining some ground, but the people I know who own a Sony tend to sideload rather than buy from the store.

We also have other devices. Iriver, which looks a bit like a Kindle 2, Bebook, Cybook and the Elonex are the ones that are readily available. All of these are readers only and as yet have the old screens, which are greyer and don’t have the sharp contrast of the new ones. If you’re looking at these, check the page refresh rate, as some of them can be sluggish. There are lots of demo type videos available on youtube, where you can see them in action. Some have high quality builds and if you don’t want to be tied to a format, they are probably the ones for you to look at.

I think that the Kindle will make a killing, despite Sony’s valiant attempt to catch up. The reason? Twofold. The price can’t be beat right now for a dedicated device. And access to the ebookstore. The UK, and for that matter Europe, is a relatively untouched market, so access to content will make the Kindle a winner. It’s a device that you could give to your granny, who doesn’t own a computer, because it’s all there, and once Nana has learned how to download a book, there’ll be no stopping her. The lighter weight and the adjustable font size make it great for people with failing strength and eyesight. Since I’ve had arthritis for most of my life, and poor eyesight, I have an inkling of what that means.

If the Kindle is in the UK, then it’s in Europe. Because of the European Union, economic constraints are far less inside it, and it’s relatively easy to order something from a member country. Amazon.de (Germany) and Amazon.co.uk are the biggest, but the others will follow.

Right now, the readers with the best screens are the Sony and the Kindle. Until Kindle’s masterstroke of reducing the price, it looked a more even contest with the multi-purpose things like cell phones and tablet devices. Cell phones are huge in Europe, where coverage is extremely reliable and thorough. But the e-ink readers do one thing exceedingly well, so it’s if you want something that does a lot of things, or a single purpose device. Or, of course, both.