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If you’re thinking of putting an e-reader like the Amazon Kindle or the Barnes & Noble Nook on your Christmas list, you might want to wait. Google is about to enter the e-book game, possibly rendering both of those devices obsolete.

Live Science reports:

On Oct. 15 Google announced plans to open an electronic book store. Unlike Amazon’s strategy with the Kindle-only format, Google plans to deliver eBooks to any device with a web browser. Google has not announced a format, but it is likely Google book downloads will only require a browser plug-in to read books on any device with a screen.

If Google is successful, hardware will be moot, any screen will do, and the largest collection of reading material in the world will be available to anyone and any institution with a screen.

Read the full article here.

I got an Amazon Kindle 2 at the end of February and absolutely love the ability to take a whole heap of books with me anywhere I go! I also love being able to look up a word without ever leaving the page that I am reading, and those are only a couple of the cool features of this little device. If you want to know more, here’s a review that has great pictures and all the details about Amazon’s latest e-book reader.

The Kindle 2 is not, however, ready for school or library use. Kindle’s proprietary design requires the user to have an Amazon account with a credit card attached in order to purchase and download books, which would really wreak havoc on a school district’s purchasing and inventory process. Books purchased for the Kindle actually live in the buyer’s Amazon account, so it is not possible to buy Kindle books for the school with a personal credit card and be reimbursed with district funds.

Rumor is that Amazon is in the development phase of an educational Kindle that will allow it to be used in a school setting. Until then, get one for yourself, but not your library.

Image source: Steinbeck on Kindle 2 by TreyDanger.