I recently read an article from the Wall Street Journal proposing the idea that e-readers may go the way of the 8-track tape. Click here to read it.

With all due respect to the Journal, I disagree. Like any new technology, e-readers are going morph and change in the coming years, but I think they’re here to stay. What’s my evidence? Simply this: I love my Kindle.

Now I have to admit, I’m the last person I would have expected to be on the e-reader bandwagon. In fact, fifteen years or so ago when my husband, the Geek, first started talking about the idea of an e-reader, I swore up and down that they’d never fly. Nothing would replace the paperbacks I’d read with such love all my life.

Then last year I bit the bullet and asked the Geek to get me a Kindle for Christmas. I’ve been a fan since the second I opened that sucker. So what finally won me over?

Here are all the things I love about my Kindle:

• I’ll never have to decide which books to keep and which to give away. Let’s face it, space on my bookshelf. I love being able to just keep everything.
• I love buying books at three in the morning. It’s just divine. Anytime I want to read a book, I can get it in less than a minute.
• It’s super easy to read on.  Just trust me on this. It’s so smooth to read.
• I’m a bit of a nut about the environment and I love that my Kindle is tree-friendly and paperless.
• I read faster on my Kindle. I have no idea why this true, but you’ll have to trust me on this too.

So is there anything I don’t love about my Kindle? Sure, plenty of things.

• Not all the books I want to read are available on Kindle. I’ve been on a YA kick lately and a lot of YA books aren’t available yet. What, do they think teenagers don’t have an extra $250 to spend? Bummer.
• Harry Potter isn’t on Kindle yet. I own all the HP books in hard cover, but they’re so bulky compared to my sleek and sexy Kindle. I’d buy all seven books again in Kindle form if they were there. Sorry JK. You could have had more of money. But maybe it’s for the best. Do I really have to reread those books right now? Probably not. <g>
• Amazon now owns my soul. This is my biggest problem with my Kindle. I’m in bed with Amazon forever now. Which makes me a tad uncomfortable, because I like to think I love all bookstores equally. But I can live with that.

The Wall Street Journal thought people would be better served with a net book or repurposing a laptop as an e-reader. Now I love my Mac, but reading e-books on it is just nothing like reading on my Kindle. And it’s no fun to curl up in bed with a laptop. Besides, I do that all the time when I’m on deadline. I work on my computer all day. I don’t want to “play” on my computer too.

The article also says that e-readers are for people who love techy gadgets, not people who love books. I disagree. I love books. I’d read books on scrolls if I had to. But love my Kindle more than any other gadget I’ve ever owned.

Do any of your own a Kindle or other e-reader? What do you think of it?

I don’t love reading books on the laptop. No laptop, even my beloved Mac, is