A few months ago, M, her husband and I were discussing the future of the book. M's husband, being quite involved with the graphic design world, has a slightly bleak idea of the future of print books. He has already seen the decline of cd cases due to dowloadable music; people just aren't buying as many cds as they used to. He seemed to think that books are going to head in the same direction.By the end of our conversation, my doomsday nature envisioned the end of all printed books. I could see my future children walking into my personal library and being amazed to see so many real books on the shelves "grandma, what are these?" Kind of how we might feel when someone has hundreds of vinyl records. I swore to myself that I would never be a traitor to books, I would never own a Kindle or any other wretched print-book-killing-device!
But then some time passed...and I listened to other friends discuss the merits/demerits of the Kindle...and amazon had that rotten Kindle advertisement on their main page for so long...and I finally got around to actually reading about it...and I've been converted! I desperately want one! Let me show you why:
- It holds over 1500 books and gives you free book samples- you can download a chapter of a book and read it to decide if you actual want it.
- Books are so cheap! Most are less than $10.
- It has wireless built into it so you can download books anytime, anywhere, even if there isn't a wireless network in the area.
- It can read to you.
- You can adjust the size of the text and the shade of the screen. And there's no glare on the screen if you read outside.
- Wireless access to wikipedia (T-rav was really happy about that one).
- There's a search feature where you can type in a word or phrase and it will search through all of your books until it finds a match.
- This is what finally convinced me that I want one: it has a built in New Oxford American Dictionary! If you don't know what a word is, you simply move the cursor over the word and voila- you get a definition.
And let me also mention that if I were lucky enough to own a Kindle, it would not mean that I would stop buying or reading print books. I would just add a Kindle to my library.
What do you think? Would you buy a kindle? Do you think it will be The End of the printed book?
11 comments:
Oooh, I didn't know that the Kindle has a built-in dictionary! That's really enticing.
My mother-in-law and I were talking about the benefits of Kindle in regards to travel. You're right - it's much lighter to carry a Kindle than a stack of books. If I was going on a trip abroad (i.e. Europe), it would be really nice to take a Kindle along.
There are a lot of benefits to the Kindle, but honestly, I can't see myself wanting one anytime soon. I don't know why, but I just love to turn physical pieces of paper while I read. But who knows? If the Kindle prices continue to decrease, I might end up getting one...
(And this is shameless self-promotion, but I also wrote a little about the decline of books on my art history blog. The post just briefly mentions the subject, but there are some really interesting comments about physical books vs. digital files. If anyone is interested, you can see the post and comments here.)
not a chance.
Nope, not for me. Lucky for me, I found a used bookstore and I get books, real books, for much less than $10 each.
By the way, I like your new blog layout.
I too like the new blog layout...
as far as print books disappearing, I think eventually they could become quite rare.
Let me clarify: I think what I really want a Kindle for is traveling. I don't exactly see myself snuggled up on the couch with an electronic device.
Fautie says:
Kindle does and will have its place. But for me at at least, and maybe I am just told, I will always love a feel of a book in my hand. I guess I am sort of like the fictional Captain Kirk from Star Trek. Almost the only way to read for him was with a computer of Kindle like device. But still he sought out books from antique book stores.
In my work I read a lot. And almost our resources for doing tax research are electronic data basis that are can be searched. This is a great benefit and makes research much faster and easier. However, the tool can be used like a book and can be paged through. But at least for me, I often find the material I want and print it out. I comprehend it much better than reading on the screen. Not part of it is I love to underline and make notes on what I read especially when doing research. But I can underline, bold and add comments on the computer as well. I have done this at times where I cut and paste and item into a Word document then do my highlighting and bolding and comments in the Word document. Still, it is better when I print and read. I believe we comprehend better this way. At least I do.
Still Kindle and such devices may change things. I know many people who rarely read a book anymore. Rather they listen to it on some type of electronic device.
Hah! A more noble person would refrain, but all I can say is I TOLD YOU SO.
Well, that's not all I can say. I just want to reiterate what we talked about that night, which is that convenience easily trumps any kind of emotional nostalgia we may have. I LOVED/LOVE cd/vinyl packaging, and felt like it was so essential to a true experience of an album, but find myself wondering why I really want to bother with the physical thing if I have to a) pay more for it, and b) wait for it to come in the mail, and then, I'm just going to rip it onto my hard drive and put it on my iPod, and probably never put the cd in a cd player again. It's the same with books, as you are experiencing - it's hard to argue that the soft touch of physical paper outweighs the benefit of having 1500 books in one little, lightweight package (plus it is searchable, allows you to get a new book whenever you want one, etc., etc., etc.).
You can also add the point that cd packaging and books are wasteful (counting the energy it takes to ship them). The benefit of digital items is that they never end up in landfills.
GermyB- I must admit that I was tempted not to say anything about this because I realized how very strongly I disagreed with you at the time, and I do so hate to eat my words. But if you're right you're right, so I might as well admit it. :)
Welcome to the dark side! There will always be holdouts (cellphone - who needs that!? I've got a phone in my home) but people need to realize YOU DON'T HAVE TO CHOOSE ONE OR THE OTHER. Studies show that people with a Kindle don't buy less real books, they buy more. Kindle buyers are "book people" and more than that, they are "reading people". I'm a big time book lover, and except on rare occasions, there is nothing inherintly more virtuous about a paper book than a digital book. Sorry. Reading is reading. Sure there is a tactile joy that you can experience in a book, and you want your kids to experience...and you still have and will continue to have that option. You can just read more now :)
There are interesting implications for book art/book jackets and that kind of thing that are worth discussing, but even if more and more people get the kindle I don't think books will go away. Americans actually buy more books than ever right now. (I can't cite that, so take that for what you will)
So, that's my two cents. Get both. Yay kelly. (We haven't bought ours yet...I don't know if I can afford it and honestly, we got a new itouch and it has a kindle app...I might just stick with that) Some people were horrified when books became small enough and cheap enough to buy and carry around, and also when serials sullied the seriousness of the book format, formats change.
* A note on traveling also. I envisioned myself only using the kindle while traveling too, but not "snuggling up" 'cause that sounds awful. BUT a friend of mine says it is perfect for bed reading because there are no pages to turn and no book to hold in the air above you or whatever. She likes it for that very thing. Interesting.
(Isn't it fun how strongly people feel about this issue? See, books are fine. There are enough of us out there who will keep buying them)
I personally hate reading on the computer (that doesn't stop me from reading blogs however) and I think reading on a Kindle would be similar. Also, it hurts my eyes. Like others, I like the feel of a book in my hands. I can't imagine not having books. Poo poo on the kindle. And when I travel to Europe, I just buy books when I get there....challenging, yet fun. And just because I am being controversial, I really don't like it when people use a PDA in church to read the scriptures. Just bring the actual scriptures. Thanks.
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