One of the best things about the Apple iPad, is that it has a built-in ereader. Apple have also included a neat book shelf app, so you can see all the ebooks you have downloaded to your iPad.

The iPad also can read all books in the ePub ebook format, which means that you can buy ebooks from any ebookstore that supports this format and upload them to your iPad. Apple also launched their own bookstore, iBooks, to enable you to buy ebooks for the iPad. And Amazon has released a free Amazon Kindle for iPad app, so you can buy and read Kindle books on your ipad.

So should you go ahead and buy an iPad? Before you do, make sure you are aware of the drawbacks the iPad has as an ebook reader. Firstly the iPad does not use iInk technology, which is designed to prevent eye strain when reading electronic books . IInk technology reduces glare and makes your ereader look like paper, and both the Kindle and the Sony Digital Reader employ it. Kindle users report that they can read ebooks in bright sunlight, but iPad readers report that they struggle to see the screen in the sun due to the glare.

The iPad also has a backlit LED screen, which helps if you are using the iPad in a dark room for a short period of time. But if you spend several hours reading books on the iPad, the backlit screen causes eye strain.

The iPad’s real advantage is that it also has other software included in it – browsers, document creators, game apps, email and so on. If you want an all purpose tablet pc, then you should order the iPad as it is the best all round tablet on the market. If you are mainly interested in an ereader, you may want to stick to the Kindle or Sony reader.