This Christmas, I got a nice little present from my boss. He gave me his older generation 2 kindle, since he got the kindle 3. Now, I already have a Sony PRS-505 e-reader, so while I was excited, it wasn’t the end of the world. I did not explode in a flash of excitement. Till I got to know my Kindle a little better. I am now Super excited about it! I can already see the day where people will not need to carry around a stack of physical books! More after the break!Now, please understand, I don’t hate physical books. I actually love the smell of going into a library, and I love sitting down on their comfy chairs and checking out a few books. In my opinion, I don’t think brick and mortar book stores will ever go completely out of business. There is just something about turning a books pages that cannot be duplicated (yet!) with an e-reader, even a touch screen one. But, there is a definite advantage to having a digital e-reader over a regular book. Here are my top 5 reasons:

1. Price: Most E-readers have drastically dropped their prices. Before, if you wanted one, they hovered around $200-$300. This has now dropped to around $130, making the purchase much easier. I believe that the price will continue to drop, but maybe not so rapidly as before.

2. Prevalence of E-books: It is now easier than ever to get ahold of your favorite books in an E-book format. Whether you prefer the Amazon store, the Sony Store, or even the new Google E-book store, there is a portal out there for you to purchase the book in the format you need.

3. Convenience: I currently have about 1000 books on my Kindle. And it fits in my backpack. What does that tell you? Easy portability! It doesn’t get much more convenient than that.

4. Plethora of devices: Did you know you might already have an E-reader? Most smartphones now-a-days come equipped with them, or are easily available through the built in app store. For example, Android uses an app called Wordplayer which lets you access most open source E-books. Or you can install the Amazon Kindle app and access your entire library of E-books purchased through Amazon. Apple iPods and iPhones use an app called Stanza, or the Amazon kindle app. If you get tired of the tiny screen though, it might be time to switch over to a dedicated E-reader.

5. Calibre: Hands down, my favorite reason to have an E-reader. Calibre is an E-book library management software. It allows you to get Metadata for your books, download covers, convert books from one format to another, and even share your library with others through the internet. Note that this is just a few examples of what Calibre can do. For more info go to their webpage by clicking here.

Everyday, there are more and more reasons to get an E-reader. They are extremely useful, and make great gifts for the bookworm in the family.