E-Readers (Kindle)

- I really like how the Kindle makes it a lot easier to read big books.
a. It's physically easier: big books are i) heavy, and ii) unwieldy
b. It's psychologically easier. You don't get as distracted by the number of pages you still need to read.





Q: Are E-Readers (like the Kindle) worth purchasing?
A: At the moment I think it depends.
. . . . I've come to the conclusion that a lot of the reason people value these fancy gadgets is the status it conveys. I remember feeling sorry for myself in high school because my classmates had fancy expensive I-pods and I had a less-expensive I-River AA-battery powered mp3 player with way less space. When I got my first-ever ipod several years later I insisted on having a white one--even though I thought the black ones were more attractive--because the ones all my friends had had in high school were white and I had developed a strong emotional attachment to the idea of having a white ipod.
. . . . Behavior like this is why I don't like spending lots of time around one group of people. I (like others) can fall prey to peer pressure way too easily. And this is also why I'm very suspicious of any longing I may feel for an e-reader, ipad, iphone, or whatever.
. . . . Assuming you aren't getting it for the reasons described above, I think the Kindle is best used for reading novels, since people tend to just read novels straight through (they don't flip around). When I'm reading to gain good ideas, though, even if it's an autobiography, I tend to want to flip around a lot between sections and write things all over the margins and between the lines. At the moment the Kindle can't come close to offering that. Another huge problem is the cost of books on e-readers; right now it's 1/4 the cost to get used books rather than digital versions. They need to make it like music, where if you get a hard-copy you also gain the rights to the digital version.
. . . . I could see an e-reader being useful, though, if you were going on a short trip and wanted to bring a lot of books with you, but didn't have space or didn't want to carry them all around. And once the books become way cheaper and once it becomes easy to write stuff all over the pages i can see the e-reader becoming more useful. And I must admit I'm very impressed with the e-ink technology; it's much easier on the eyes.