dovegreyereader settles in

I'm trying to be measured and sensible about this because I'm always very aware of being a marketing puppet here in blogland.The blogs are very busy with e-readers at the moment and I was hardly going to refuse the offer of a free one after all, but in the cold light of day what would I make of it? I shall be asking myself a few pertinent questions as I go along, culminating most importantly with 'Would I have parted with £200 of my hard-earned money to buy one for myself?'

How would this fare against the stacks of 'real' books which I love with a passion?
I come to it with no prejudices, I might not be much good at it but I do love technology.

Unpacked and interesting first impressions.
It weighs in slightly heavier than I had imagined, though at an imperial 12ozs still less than one good-sized novel and at a mere 7"x 5" and just half an inch thick it's going to fit snugly into a pocket or bag.

Next the software.Now I'll admit this took me longer than it took Scott Pack who is clearly a computer whizz and I might not be. In fact for good accurate information, like what happens if you drop it in the bath, go to Me and My Big Mouth, you're just going to get muddled here.The e reader library bit was fine, I then came slightly unstuck with an inadequate amount of Adobe installed and then having to fiddle around downloading Flash bits and then finally realised I had to register at Adobe proper to get into the Digital Editions bit.

Eventually it all happened like magic and I was on familiar iPod territory as I dragged and dropped books from the disc of free 100 classics into my library, thence into the reader itself. War & Peace and Anna Karenina on there in a nano second and plenty more I've been meaning to read for years, plus some Shakespeare plays too.
Like most bookaholics I never leave the house without a book, usually several in case an unexpected earthquake or a volcanic eruption were to stop me getting back home. Then there's the going away for any length of time and the nightmare of the ten tons of luggage based on the 'what if I don't like that one, then that one, then that one' principle. I even take a book 'in case I get bored', can you imagine being anywhere without a book?
So my e reader has also come ready-loaded with the book I had requested, Stone Cold by David Baldacci, the sequel to The Collectors which I loved last year.I thought a page-turner might be a good idea as a starter for ten.

So I've added some user-friendly bling and made it an e reader jacket, (I don't think Huw's lost his job over that bit) it's all charged up and I've played. I like the changing font-size for a start.The next time I lose my glasses in London I won't have to buy a pair for £10 so I can at least try and read on the train home, there is helpfully what Bookhound has dubbed the 'Janet & John' setting.But what of the reading experience itself?
Oh yes I'd forgotten that bit, well more on that next week.