In some ways, I agree with switch11, if I was taking the perspective of a bookworm, which I am. I’m sure any e-reader owner has had people who don’t read coming up to them and ask questions like ‘Is it educational for my kids?’, ‘Can I watch videos on it?’ or ‘Can I play games with it like an iPhone?’ etc. These are all valid questions, but as switch11 said, not at all related to reading a book.

I have to say that if e-readers begin to have color screens, like the rumored iSlate perhaps, they will lose their reputations as cool but niche devices for bookworms and become something akin to a tablet computer. Anyone from those who need a portable PC to casual gamers and internet junkies would have a reason to buy one.

This is not an entirely bad thing if it manages to successfully merge two devices we can’t leave the house with into one useful piece of convergence. But if I still need my iPhone to make calls and my laptop to do any serious work then I don’t see how a color e-reader would be of much use to someone who just wants to read UNLESS it (now this may be confusing) is made primarily to be an e-reader. No video player, gaming possibilities or MS Office allowed!

If you can’t really converge devices to make life simpler, then what’s the point really. :p

On that note, I’d like to end by saying that color definitely has its uses, but only if it doesn’t cost much more than current popular e-readers and never tries to replace a laptop or phone.

What I want instead is better eInk. Whiter white and blacker black. Although I enjoy reading on my Kindle DX, it always bothers me that the screen is grey – not white – a fact that made glaringly obvious by the glossy white plastic case of the reader. The text is still not even close to a 300 dpi laser printer in quality, and there is only one font.

I want better black and white text that looks even more like a real book. I could care less about color. Personally, I would not pay anything extra for it at all. I’d rather have better contrast and better fonts.

The illuminated text point is a good one. The option to enrich the text is a very good reason for color.

I’m still not sure it’s the #1 reason people feel it is. However, there are advantages I had missed.

I read a fair number lot of non-fiction books (not textbooks), and graphs and diagrams (while usually in grayscale, I assume because printing a color book would be much more expensive) are readable and understandable, but color would make them much more comprehensible.

For instance, see this diagram: http://www.mrc-lmb.cam.ac.uk/myosin/trees/gifs/tree.jpg . Can it work in grayscale? Sure – there is white-space around the different groupings. However, it is much easier to comprehend in color.

I could also see color enhancing fiction books – it would depend on how it was done. For instance, if the text were very subtly tinted differently throughout the book, it could affect the mood of the reader without being distracting. Is it necessary? No – good authors can easily set the mood without resorting to color, and it wouldn’t exactly improve a badly-written book. But as a previous poster said – that doesn’t mean that color wouldn’t enhance the experience of reading.