Chapter 1: The Rise of the eReader

View the introduction and prologue here

When eReaders were first announced, I was intrigued. I had no particular desire to own one, but I certainly had an interest in playing with one to see what they were all about. This was made difficult by the fact that the only well-known eReader on the market was the Amazon Kindle. Since Amazon is a purely online company, there were no brick and mortar locations for me to drop by to see what this Kindle thing was all about. Despite that, I continued to keep an eye on the progress of the Kindle, reading about updates, improvements, and (after not too long) the rising competition. The only real draw these eReaders seemed to have for me was the fact that I could put so many books on it at once (there was also the little gremlin in the back of my mind jumping around shouting, "New gadget! New gadget!" in a shrill voice). All the eReaders I had seen at that point seemed a bit on the bulky side (with a surprisingly small screen), none of them looked attractive to me, and I didn't even want to think about the prices on them. The e-ink display was intriguing, but I'd have to see it to believe it and, as already discussed, that just wasn't an option.

After a while, I think the aforementioned gremlin in my mind worked his way forward enough to convince me that I should assemble an Amazon Wish List containing a Kindle and all the accessories that appealed to me or seemed necessary.
The release of the Kindle DX (the larger version of the Kindle) appealed to me greatly since there would be more screen space for actual reading. Eventually it occurred to me that the large size was just going to make it even more impossible to carry around and get any kind of use out of. Thus the idea of getting an eReader, while still interesting, lost its appeal and my Amazon Wish List was left to gather the internet equivalent of dust.

Seemingly out of nowhere (probably because I had given up on paying attention to developments with eReaders), Barnes & Noble announced the Nook. The Nook was their own eReader, with many ideas drawn from the Kindle, but improved for greater user appeal. Instead of that ugly keyboard, the Nook was to have a color touch screen. While I can't remember quite all the features that were available with the first release of the Nook, let it suffice to say that my desire for an eReader was (forgive the cruelty of the following pun) reKindled in the form of the Barnes & Noble Nook. To add fuel to fire, the Nook was originally priced lower than the Kindle, which also had to lower its pricing to accommodate. This stiff competition finally put eReaders into an accessible price bracket, and I couldn't have been more excited.

Next thing I knew, the e-dust was wiped off my Amazon Kindle Wish List just in time for me to empty it out. Barnes & Noble had my vote and there was a rapidly built Wish List over at BN.com filled with the Nook I wanted and all the associated accessories.

To read the rest of this series, see the following links:
Chapter 2: In Which Dinah Veritably Salivates Over the Nook
Chapter 3: How Magic and (Dare I Say) Karma Resulted in a Spur-of-the-Moment Indulgence (Or How I Learned to Stop Caring and Love Purchasing My Nook)
Chapter 4: Discovering Felicity, the Fierce Amazon Nook Within ("Amazon" in the Xena: Warrior Princess sort of way, not the company)