I guess I am on my way to being a Dinosaur

[puppetmaker]

I don’t like e-books. The few I own are mostly pattern books that I have printed out, three-holed punched, and put into a binder. When e-book readers were young and much larger, I got to play around with a number of models while at Del Rey. Formatting was still being sorted out for the readers as was what would and would not be allowed. I read a couple of books on the train just to give back a report on how well the devise worked but I found that my eyes became tired much faster when reading an e-book and the format wasn’t really to my liking.

Many Amazon Kindle owners found out recently that they were renting rather than buying books. You can’t give the book to someone else to read unless you give them the whole electronic device. You can’t sell it or even give it to charity to be resold. Your ownership is limited. I like being able to lend a book to someone and know that the book is going to be there the next time I go to look for it.

I know that Barnes and Noble has a new format that they are trying to convince people is better than Amazon’s (think Beta vs. VHS at the moment). They won’t have a device until later this year but it does work on your computer and iPhone. I don’t think that in this form it is any threat to the Kindle.

I have had a number of people list the conveniences of the devise and maybe for those long train commutes or plane rides it makes sense but I am still willing to carry around my books and magazines to read and I don’t think that is going to change.

Yes, there is a piece of tech that I want nothing to do with which I know is the first step to dinosaur-hood.

I am grateful that books and magazines exist outside the electronic realm.

Comments

[dungeonwriter.livejournal.com]

Hey, I think it's worth holding on to things you cherish. My grandfather recently presented a family Torah to his great nephew on the occasion of his engagement. I doubt handing someone an e book can have the same resonance.

My favorite children's book is going to be given to my nephew next week and I like the doodles in the corner and the smudges, it's a great book that went through many years with my family.

Books are more then words, they're friends and memories.