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

[jendaby.livejournal.com]

I have both Kindle and B&N for my iPhone, and I do like B&N better. While I like the tactile element of a real book, and really love the whole ability to lend it, have it on a shelf to look at, etc., I must admit that when my joints are really acting up, I cannot hold a regular book very easily. My fingers cramp up or lock in place. I've been having more trouble with this lately, and so have been reading a bit more on my phone...

But you don't have to charge a book. You don't have to worry that it will lose power. You don't have to turn a book off during takeoff and landing. You can bring a book with you when you take a bath and not worry about what might happen if you were to drop it in the tub (well, it wouldn't be excellent, but it could dry out, and replacement cost is much smaller). You can't squash a creepy crawly with an iPhone (probably don't want to with a Kindle).

I enjoy customizing the font and colors. I like reading at night with no light on. I really like getting sample first chapters to see if I like a book before I buy it - and I could conceivably get the free sample to read in kindle format and then buy an actual paper book if I am still interested.

Getting classics for free in digital format is awesome, though, because I do not have to fork out any extra money to read the ones I don't already own in book form. So I guess I am saying that I like using both formats, and will probably continue to do so. :)