So all it does is allow you to read books? How is that innovation? Sure, it's LOTS of books in one book-size space, but still... I already have books on my Treo, and I didn't need to buy ANOTHER $400 device. I'm sure reading on the Kindle is more fun (and easier on the eyes) than reading on my Treo, but my Treo gets phone calls and e-mails and text messages and websites. The Kindle has books. And some newspapers, magazines, and blogs. But not all of them. Not even all of them that are available online.
The Kindle has free wireless paid by Amazon, whereas I pay a monthly bill for my Treo (in addition to paying for the device). The Kindle's access is paid by Amazon because it's not unlimited access unlike my Treo.
What if the Kindle were $99, and offered truly unlimited wireless access. Meaning, I could use it for e-mail, texting, websites, twittering, facebook, shopping, browsing, etc. with a monthy service plan? Now that would be worth getting excited about. (I don't mention phone since I don't want a book-sized phone) All my books (or a lot of books) and all the Internet? Wow. That would be something.
But just books and a selected grouping of newspapers and online services? I'll pass.
| HOME PAGE | SITE FEED | E-MAIL | SUBSCRIBE! |
| T-SHIRTS | ALTERNATE E-MAIL |
Friday, December 21, 2007
The Kindle, or, Who Cares?
Posted by John Klima at 12/21/2007 10:07:00 AM
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
5 comments:
Wherever there is a door, someone will figure out how to open it. I felt similarly about the Kindle until I saw that someone figured out how to open it up to Google services. I still think it's too expensive, but that basically comes down to it being the same price as an OLPC laptop -- and it if comes down to buying an ebook reading device (even one as cool as the Kindle) or sending an indestructible solar+crank laptop to a poor kid in Africa, I go for the latter. I'll probably get one eventually, though -- just may wait for 2nd gen. But when you get down to it a laptop or my blackjack aren't going to stop me buying books -- and I think a genuine fully-featured e-reader might.
I think the tech that creates the words on the page is interesting. Staring at screens that are pushing light into your head is not good for your eyes or your sleep cycle. Aside from that...a book remains the better piece of technology, as does the magazine. The combination of tactile and visual and the capacity for nonlinear scanning of the text and flipping of pages make for better reading; then there are the aesthetics (especially those book covers). Remember how you fell in love with certain books and their weight and the picture on the cover and the shape of the letters that formed the authors' names? That's gone.
Yes, e-ink is very fascinating. I wasn't sold on it until I saw it on a Sony Reader. I was very close to picking up a Reader before the Kindle came out because of its readability, power conservation, and assorted other ecological advantages. That technology is really quite remarkable. And the Kindle has several features that the second gen Sony Reader (the one commonly available in the US) cut out -- the ability to type notes on it, etc. And adds the free wifi, which is also a very remarkable model.
I don't think books will ever leave the world, nor should they. But I think they can become a cottage industry, a specialty that you select for its aesthetic qualities. But I at least do an awful lot of reading that does not fall into this category, and purchasing "trial" books (new authors, stuff I'm not sure I'll love but want to read) or magazines in dead tree format bugs me. The waste that occurs in the mass publishing industry is very troubling -- the destruction of books, cover ripping, etc, not to mention the shipping costs.
M.C.A.Hogarth is one of the few people (and authors) to make a solid case for the Kindle.
Hey! Looks like my dream of no spam comments came true! Sorry Seeker, you obviously aren't reading my blog with regularity.
And I still don't see what the big deal is with the Kindle. I have too many devices as it is. Too many websites to check (even with a reader: away for five days and I have 1,000+ posts to read...sigh, 'mark all as read'). Too many websites to update. I rarely have time to read for fun.
Having a device with lots of books on it? No pull for me. When I'm reading a book, I want to be unconnected. I don't want to be two pages from the end with a dead battery.
As much as I'm an early adopter, it's never been with physical technology. I owned LPs and a turntable until last year; I hadn't played a vinyl album in more than eight years, but I still had them! Despite owning hundreds of CDs, I've ripped fewer than ten of them. I don't own a portable MP3 player. I don't know what I'd do with one. There is almost no point in my day when it would make sense for me to have all my music with me. I feel the same way about ebook readers.
And for people who think they'll be damaging to libraries...? (this is where this post comes from; librarians talking online about how the Kindle spells trouble for libraries)
What if your library bought a bunch of them and you could check them out as a patron? The whole point of the Kindle is to jettison physical books from your life, right? So why replace a physical object with another physical object? Even if it's one object that represents MANY? If someone else owned the physical object, but you could borrow it as much as you'd like...
Or what if libraries were to team up with Amazon and work out some sort of download station where people could walk by with their Kindle and quickly grab a book? Probably not necessary since you're apparently always connected to Amazon anyway to get more books, right?
I just don't see a $400 device as being trouble or concern for the library. At least not any library I've ever worked in. The people who are spending that kind of money on Amazon are already not coming in the library because they BUY all their books.
Post a Comment