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Since I’m the self-elected travel-gadget guru on the Window Seat, I’d like to take a moment to offer up my latest techno-savvy travel tip: buy an e-book. I recently got a Sony Reader as a gift and it has revolutionized my life. Plus, Amazon is releasing the Kindle 2 next Tuesday.

Now, let me start off by saying that I viewed these digital reader/e-book thingamajigs with a very skeptical eye. My first career was at a New York publishing house and in college I was a lit major who collected signed first editions. Give me paper books or give me death! Or so I thought…

I’ve always loved to travel and in my opinion nothing spells relaxation on vacation quite like diving into a new book. But I tend to blow through two or three novels each trip and this has created a problem--a problem I don’t think I even wanted to admit for a long time out of deference to my precious paper books. But you know what it is…they’re heavy. Worse than that, they get damaged. Stuff a paperback into your carry-on bag one too many times, and soon you have a book without a cover.

Most people believe they don’t want an e-book for one of three reasons. 1) They don’t like reading on a screen. 2) They love writing in the margins and collecting paper books. 3) Digital books are expensive. Sadly, I can’t help you with the third reason. Electronic books retail for roughly $400 a pop, and I don’t know if I would have “gone digital” without receiving one as a gift. But with new e-books entering the market every day, very soon the devices won't be budget busting.

The first thing to get straight in your head is reading on an e-book screen is NOTHING like reading on a computer screen. Smarty-pants designers invented something called “e-ink” and the words look exactly like ink letters printed on a paper page. Another thing to remember is that digital book screens are not backlit, which makes them easier on the eyes. If you’ve never seen an e-book screen, I would liken it more to an Etch-A-Sketch than a computer screen.

Also e-books can do everything a paper book can do--and more! Are you a doodler? You can still leave notes in the margins! Enjoy turning the pages? Buy a Sony Reader and use the touch-screen to turn the “pages.” Love to read before you go to bed? The Sony Reader has a built-in nightlight that won't keep your light-sensitive spouse awake (trust me on this one.) Want to be able to buy books anywhere, anytime? The Kindle 2 features 3G wireless technology so you can download on the go. Love to bring your whole library to the beach? E-books have insane amounts of storage and the Kindle 2 allows you have up to 1,500 books at a time on the device. Just plain old cheap? Electronic copies of books are cheaper than paper books so you can download the latest bestsellers without waiting for them to go to paperback.

Still have questions? Just ask them in the comments section below and I’ll chime in.