So I bought a Kindle 2. It’s currently en route and should be in my hands by Thursday. In the meantime, I’m feeling awfully conflicted about it. On the one hand, it’s definitely a luxury item. I’ve got an amazing library just a few blocks away with more variety than the Kindle offers. Free books I can hold and smell (and taste, should I feel the urge). As a taxpayer and citizen, it’s in my best interests to utilize that service and have my vote counted as a library user. The newspaper, magazine and blog content that can be streamed to the Kindle is also largely free online, where many of those features would also include color, video and comments. It isn’t as if the Kindle is upgrading books in the way that a Playstation 3 is a step up from the Playstation 2. The added convenience seems negligible, at least so far (we’ll see after I’ve had a few months to get used to it).
So why did I order one? I can’t deny that part of me still gets a thrill out of trying new gadgets. I’ve thus far escaped iphone fever, and with no new game consoles on the horizon, it could just be my inner-geek urges acting up. If that’s the only reason though, I’ll have to kick myself. The other explanation, and the one that I hope justifies the purchase, is that for better or worse, digital distribution of books is here to stay, and as someone who wants to make a career of writing, it’s important to stay in the loop. As I plot my next story, I don’t see anything changing just because I’ll have read a book on a Kindle instead of just old-fashioned paper. Or maybe it will. Maybe it will inspire me to develop new storytelling techniques for digital delivery, or at least give me the context to tell the good ideas from the bad when talking to publishers.
In the meantime, I’ve got a stack of those old-fashioned library books to get through. I’m just finishing up a clockwork fantasy called Mainspring by Jay Lake, a fun read. And then there’s the mammoth new Dan Simmons novel, Drood, about Charles Dickens’ final days (at 780 pages, that could take some time).
How ‘bout you guys – anyone out there have a Kindle or other e-reader? Any advice on what scribe’s words I should pop my e-book cherry?
Stumble Upon
Del.icio.us
Buzz
I wish I had one. I’m in college so I can’t afford one.
Last time I went on vacation with my family I brought about 10 books, a combination of hardcover and paperback. Usually I’m not that extreme, but there were very special, um, extenuating circumstances and I really really needed to have them all with me. My sister made crazy fun of me the whole time and when she heard about the Kindle she basically ordered me to invest in one, but I just couldn’t bring myself to do it. If it was any cheaper I might have, but I guess I still like the paper way.
I think the kindle is a pretty huge leap over books, technologically. As someone who reads a cosmic fuckton of books (well normally, not now when I’m working more than sleeping), the implications (both environmentally and saving sore arms) of this little device are pretty huge.
Read some William Gibson on that sucker. It only seems fitting.
re: jess,
It definitely is a huge leap in the big picture. I guess I mean that the experience of reading a specific book isn’t hugely changed. But you’re absolutely right that the long term implications are huge. re: libraries, I guess by owning an e-reader, I become another potential e-book borrower and am doing my small part in encouraging libraries to adopt the technology.
Ew! Blaugh! Don’t taste the library books! Don’t “pop” your “e-cherry”!
Honestly!
-C
I guess it’s not so much the books I like to taste, but the little crusty bits stuck to the pages. >:)