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The Great E-Reader Debate

November 26, 2009 in Uncategorized

sony_ereaderOctober 1st, I posted about the Sony E-Reader. I had seen it at a book festival in Toronto & fell in love with it. As I have said previously, I have read books on my Nintendo DS (DSTT Card for down-loadable content) and had no issues reading that way so I figured I’d have no issues with an E-Reader. Then I saw the price. $259.00 CDN for the basic Sony E-Reader, hmm I said..yet that still wasn’t the big deterrent.

 

Amazon announced this week that the Kindle was finally available in Canada, so I had the great inner debate going on. Doug aka SciFi Guy posted about it and was less than impressed with the Kindle’s price, which again is $259.00 CDN. Again, I still had the great inner debate going on.

At some point this week, I was Twittering with Michelle Rowen about the E-Reader thing because I thought Michelle had a Kindle. She said the same thing Doug did, too freaking expensive. They’re both waiting until the prices drop or the gods drop an E-Reader from the sky.

This Tuesday, I was in a mall with the best-friend and stopped into the Sony Store to check out the E-Reader once again. I asked the guy a few questions about the Sony E-Reader and needless to say I wasn’t impressed with his responses and the fact that he directed the answers to my best-friend, who DOES NOT READ nor was she the one asking all the questions. In the end, he lost me because he stated that a Sony E-Reader only allows purchases from the Sony Site. No go right there, not happening. I called my best-friend tonight to ask her, if that is in fact what he said and she said yes. So I wasn’t hearing things, he said it was Sony Specific. I do not own an IPod for that very reason, I will not be conned into a product that only supports that specific company’s products. I went the Sony route for an MP3 player. I loathe the IPod and all products related to it.

But I digress. Christmas is coming, the better half’s been asking what I want and I was debating over the E-Readers.

At some point this week I must have mentioned that on Twitter because today I got an email from Candice, the PR Manager for Sony Canada. Ruh Roh. Pixie got in trouble? Nope. Candice passed on an article by a techy at CTV (News station in Canada). It’s a comparison between the Kindle 2 (259.00) and the Sony Touch (399.00). Notice the price differences right away and remember these are in Canadian prices.

Right away, I can tell you the Sony IS the better product. While the Kindle holds 1,700 books, the Sony’s internal memory allows 350 BUT it has expandable memory. Score for Sony. The cheaper Sony does not have expandable memory nor is it touch screen. The Sony is also much more compact. But here’s the true winner..Sony IS NOT Sony specific, it is OPEN FORMAT. Meaning you can download from anywhere, any store. Word, PDF, EPUB, etc.

Read the article, because I know alot of us are debating the E-Reader for Christmas.

But not me, I’ve decided on a Nintendo Wii.

Until the E-Reader’s prices come down, I will suck up carrying 20 books with me to the Cottage. I just can’t justify the 259-400 price tag no matter how beautiful the Sony is (I don’t like the design on the Kindle at all, not like it matters that much).

I will still drool as I walk past the Sony Store, but I won’t be walking in for awhile. Even if it pains me.

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From Mountains of Ice – Lorina Stephens

November 13, 2009 in Uncategorized

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Sylvio spent the past decade banished from Simare’s court, stripped of land, ancestral home and title – from Minister of National Security to back-country bowyer. But not any bowyer; Sylvio creates bows from laminations of wood and human bone, bows that are said to speak, bows known as the legendary arcossi.

And now, after a decade, he is called back to the capitol, summoned by his Prince whom he suspects is a patricide and insane. His very life is in danger and with it the country he has served through all his days.

From Mountains of Ice is a story of love, endurance and the meaning of honour.

When I read the prologue of this book, I was extremely worried. I haven’t been a big fan of historical paranormals and here I was reading a historical 16th century based fantasy. Add to that, the characters in the prologue have long names and big titles. I admit, I was afraid.

A few times in the book, I found myself going backwards to re-read sentences that I found a bit confusing the first time around and had me loosing track. Once again, I realized how far out of this genre I really am.

That admitted, I found myself getting into it around the middle. Once I had a firm grip on the characters and what their placement in the novel was, like I said their titles are long and it’s a bit intimidating at first. I had to read slower than I normally do, it took me a week to finish where I normally can finish a book in two days max, you really have to concentrate with From Mountains of Ice, or you will get lost. From Mountains of Ice, tells a tale of love, hate, darkness and dreams. Sylvio is a greatly developed character, in the midst of so much.

If you like a slice of Italian History with your Fantasy, From Mountains of Ice is for you.

My Rating  – 3/5

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