Lemondrop

Up until now, the Amazon Kindle was to e-readers what the iPod is to MP3 players: the unequivocal brand leader. Chances are if you see someone on the train reading an e-book, the person is using a Kindle. It turns out, however, that the once-trendy Kindle could soon look quaint.

Earlier this month at the 2010 Consumer Electronics Show it seemed like everyone and their mother was announcing a new e-Reader. The big story is that these new readers will feature color screens and promise to let you do more than just read books and magazine articles. For one thing, surfing the Web on your e-reader will be easier. True, the Kindle can do this now, but it's just not the same as looking at Web pages on your PC or your phone, since that flat screen broadcasts everything in shades of gray.

And Web pages aren't the only thing you're going to want to see in color. Now that every media bigwig from Conde Nast to Hearst to Time Inc. (among others) has announced plans to make their magazine titles play nice with e-readers, it's more important than ever that these devices have large, vibrant screens so that maghounds can enjoy titles like Vogue and People the same way they always have.

The Notion Ink Adam (a prototype for now), for instance, has a screen that shows either black-and-white e-Ink or full color. Sure, Amazon sells the 9.7-inch Kindle DX now, but it's black-and-white screen makes a whole lot more sense for textbooks and newspapers than your favorite guilty-pleasure glossies. Even the Skiff e-Reader, which has the backing of media giant Hearst, has a sharper screen.

Speaking of eye strain, some, like the Borders-backed Alex eReader, enTourage eDGe and the Astri have two screens, including a good-old black-and-white e-Ink screen, since it's easier on your eyes when you're reading lots of text.

The Notion Ink Adam has one screen that can switch back and forth between color and black-and-white, which is a handy feature to have when you're moving indoor and outdoors, and switching between reading tiny text, and looking at photos. Bonus: it'll be fast enough and have powerful enough graphics that you can also play games. And, because the Adam runs Android -- the same operating system as lots of new phones on the market -- you'll have the option of downloading apps for it as well.

There's one area where the Kindle remains king, at least for now, and that's the wide selection of eBooks available for the device. Because the Kindle's linked to Amazon, its users know they have a wide selection of bestsellers at their fingertips. With the exception of the Alex e-Reader, which connects to Borders' selection and the Nook, which has a partnership with Barnes & Noble, many e-Readers are planning on culling digital books from Google.

As imposing a giant as Google usually is, its book selection is actually unimpressive, since it largely includes titles so old their copyrights have expired. It remains to be seen what -- and how many-- titles you'll have access to if you go with an e-Reader that's not tied to a major book retailer.

I think it's safe to say, though, that if e-Readers continue to be this hot, publishers will want to make their books available in as many places as possible, and not put all their proverbial eggs in Amazon's basket.

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