1 post tagged “bit of a rant sorry”

Technology's evolution is much like biological, (only much faster, obviously). The changes aren't always "good", or "forward". Sometimes someone invents something and thinks it'll change everything, but it disappears because in real-life usage, it just doesn't happen (8-track tapes, anyone? Beta?  Beta?)

However, I'd like to take a stand in support of my Kindle.  Perhaps even e-books in general, although I admit to having a bias for Amazon's fantastic setup - the 3G "Whispernet" which, without any additional costs, will deliver me books in under 60 seconds, immediately.  That's IMMEDIATELY, folks.  That means, that Tuesday at midnight when that new title for which you've been waiting for comes available, in can be in your hot little hands without you even getting your lazy ass out of your armchair.  And if that ain't fantastic, I don't know what is.

For me though, it's not just instant gratification.  My kindle allows me the following squees:

1) I can carry LOTS of titles around with me, all at once.  I'm one of those people who tends to read several books at the same time. If I'm at work or in line at the post office, and I feel like dipping in to that fantastic Simon Singh book about the fallacies of alternative medicine, I've got it right there. Or if I want to continue reading my vampire porn by Laurel K. Hamilton, I've got them all, right there.  RIGHT. THERE. 

2) And by RIGHT THERE, did you know I don't even have to actually have my Kindle with me?  My selection of books follows me around in iPhone form as well.  Because my iPhone and my Kindle can talk to each other!  If I happen to be in that post office line without my Kindle in my purse (which, by the way, I can totally do because it weighs less than a paperback book and takes up less space) then I can pull up the title on my iPhone, and it'll be RIGHT THERE on the page i was last reading.  If that's not magic, I don't know what is.

3) The whiners cry, "But what about the FEEL of a book in your hands?  The smell of them? I like my physical books!"  Well, this sounds like a personal sort of fetish to me. But yeah, I do understand. Books should be smelly (to quote Rupert Giles [thanks @joshuamneff]).  I'm NOT one of those people who say the e-book readers will take over and someday the library will be nothing but a stack of e-files to be downloaded.  But I DO believe that an e-reader, for a reading-lover, is a fantastic addition to a collection. You may resist trying them out, but once you do I think you'll understand.  You've been in that situation where you're reading Neal Stephenson's newest 960-page hardback brick, Anathem? Where you're trying to balance that monster in one hand while you eat your lunch in the other?  Ouch.  With my Kindle, I can read ANY book, whether it's Neil Gaiman's 176-page Coraline or the entirety of Stephen King's Dark Tower series without so much as straining my hand, or shifting around to turn the page. The button is RIGHT THERE.  Easily accessed by my thumb with a mere click.  The feel of a 2-lb. brick compared to a few-ounces?  I'm just not that much of a masochist.

4) And if you complain that the screen hurts your eyes, you've obviously never tried these e-readers because the "electronic ink" is *just* like reading a regular paper page. BETTER, damn you, because you can at-a-touch-of-a-button change the font size if you wish. And guess what, you can also look up words with the built-in-dictionary (again without having to get up and hunt down your copy or get online) and highlight paragraphs and write "notes in the margin", all just like a regular book, but better, because you're not defacing the thing by doing so. 

Finally, I do agree with the naysayers that the e-books, as of yet, don't really have a place in the public libraries.  I just don't see how that would really work - or why.  You "rent" out the unit, so the person can keep it for, what, a week? Two?  And browse the collection of books on the unit, or would they be able to download new titles?  It's just not a system that is set up for sharing.  If everyone in the world had an e-book reader, and could download titles from the library (for a week or two), then that might work.  But I don't think techology (or demand) is quite there yet.

I will not give up my physical books.  I do like them, and I agree there's nothing quite so wonderful as a shelf full of your favorite books.  But I will NOT be one of the e-book haters - I think the technology world has something fantastic going on there, and I think it's only going to get better.  Resist it all you want, but do you really want to be the only old fart on the block who still insists on listening to his records "because the scratchiness adds a certain blah blah blah"?  Really?  DO YOU?

Added:  It really is okay if you YOU don't want an e-book reader.  Just... don't be one of those people who have never tried one and say they're dumb. It's just like being a non-twitterer who rants and raves about how stupid twitter is. You just make it more obvious that you don't get it.

Another added point: The reason the Kindle works so well for ME is, I already buy 99.9% of my books from Amazon. I can understand if you're not used to ordering your books online, that you'd balk at the idea that with a Kindle you'd have to purchase EVERYTHING (for the Kindle anyway) from amazon.com.  It's a bit of a committment that some people may not be willing to accept.  It works for me though because Amazon already gets most of my money anyway - all they need to do to own my soul completely is invent a Replicator so I can buy all my clothes, food, and other household items from them as well. :)