eBooks Are Not Just for Young Eyes

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The current issue of Modern Maturity, the magazine of the AARP (American Association of Retired People), offers its guide to “Bionic Books” for its 50+-aged audience.  Advantages for this target market may include eBook’s capability to increase type size with a single click, and the ability to read in the dark with the backlit screen (see table on left). 

The first two dedicated eBook products on the market are Rocket eBook and Softbook Reader, with costs ranging from $199 to $599.  With that price point, grandma or grandpa may be the tech pioneer in the family.  Junior may just have to save up for it, or wait for a birthday or holiday present.

Modern Maturity points out that users have been reading books on the tiny screen of handheld devices, such as Palm, for the past four years.  Now, there are larger, more user-friendly devices that even look like books on the outside.  But, even the screens of the new eBook readers are not easier to read than paper, but “it’s only a matter of time before advances in technology usher in a better, high-resolution screen.”

Find your bifocals, and read more about “Bionic Books” – Modern Maturity, September-October, 2000

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