I sometimes participate in the most degenerating of activities – posting comments on news articles in technology magazines on the net. For some unknown reason, the readership of these sites tend to be angry, misunderstood besserwissers – who are against anything that costs money and generally tell you to STFU if your views tend to differ.

So also with ereading. Whenever I post comments about using the iPod as a reading device, I get a rather predictable, but also very sad, set of responses.

The Kindle reader from Amazon may be a technical wonder, but it lacks the portability and versatility of iPods and Palms.

The most common is that “iPods lock you to Apple’s format”. This is pretty misunderstood. Simply the fact that I have moved all my ebooks from my Palm T|X to my iPod Touch is proof that it has nothing to do with Apple.

If anything, I have submitted to the horrors that is the eReader .pdb format – which to date has never given me any woes whatsoever. PDB books are generally cheap(ish) to buy, eas to use, and can be read on a wide range of devices and platforms. Yes, they (usually) cost money. But you do get the full, commercial versions of the books.

Another common gripe is “the screen is too small to read”. Different folks, different strokes, I guess. I bet that people who make this comment have never even tried it. They probably tend to be the same kind of people who post the next comment…

“The Kindle/Sony/iLiad/(enter device brand) is much better.” This may be true. They do however tie you to commercial formats, none worse than Kindle, which is bascially a device which you buy for the pleasure of buying more books from Amazon. Don’t get me wrong – I love the concept – but the Kindle is probably among the ugliest devices I have seen. And, which is more important, it refuses to work outside of the US which is a problem for me and most non-US folks.

The third typical comment claims that “e-Ink/paper/(other non-LCD technology) is much better than LCD”. Usually following a statement that the LCD is too bright for reading. While I agree that LCD screens may not be the best possible screen type, I am amazed at the clarity of the iPod Touch screen. Even my Palm T|X with it’s much more limited resolution was very good to read ebooks on.

I guess people who make this comment fail to realize that (as opposed to paper), backlit LCD lets you read in complete darkness. Just turn down the brightness. Want to read in sunlight? Turn it up. It works perfectly. It’s not the LCD screen that makes reading on an iPod difficult at time – it’s the shiny glass in front of it. But it’s rarely a problem for me.

“But I want a book device! Why would I want a device that can do everything when all I need is to read ebooks?” Good point. If you like to carry extra devices around, feel free. Don’t forget the chargers, cables, covers and whatever else you need. It does add up.

I apparently fail to communicate to these people exactly why I read on small devices. Why would I carry a large device around when I can get it all in one unit? I spend about 75% of my iPod time reading ebooks. I listen to podcasts. I surf the web. I read and send e-mail. I post blog entries. I view photos and play games. And I occasionally listen to music. And I can carry it all in my pocket.

I think the fear of the small screen may be due to ignorance. But most of all I think it’s a fear of trying something different. Who envisioned that we would be able to read ebooks on handheld devices the size of a thin wallet?