Wednesday, August 04, 2010

Kith and Kindle


When ebooks were first made available a couple of years ago, I quite liked the idea of being able to read books on my pc/laptop. In reality however, I tried a couple of them and found that staring at a screen reading copious amounts of text was firstly too much like reading work documents (no matter how enjoyable the book) and secondly, was a strain on my eyes.

Plus, I like the feel of a book, especially new books - I'm one of those anal readers who tries to read without bending/damaging the book spine or cover so books still look pretty new after I've read them; I like looking at how far in the book I've read, how many pages I have left, flicking back to re-read bits, smelling the glue and paper (yes, really!)

The Sony reader came out, checked it out but wasn't really impressed.

But the Amazon Kindle....I could be tempted.... although I'd see it as an addition to books as opposed to replacing them.

Can't ever see me taking a Kindle on the beach like that woman on the current Amazon advert, so the trusty paperback will still have its use!

Yes, this is a filler post - I will do some kind of round up for what I've been up to the latter part of July!

9 comments:

  1. I've found a free book place with an ap for my Nokia E71. No extra hardware, a small screen where I can get through a whole page of text in a couple of seconds, incredible battery life - and it's encouraged me to read a lot of the "classics" as they're free to download.

    I'd not get a Kindle - too proprietary. It's like Apple only with an Amazon badge.

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  2. I'm very undecided at the moment. On the one hand having so many books fit in my bag at the one time is very tempting... but yet another device to add to the phone, mp3 player, ps3, nintendo ds... It's just too much. (The phone screen is a little too small to read books on, although when I'm very bored I can do it)

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  3. I'm looking at the HTC Desire as a new phone - about to go hassle 3 about an upgrade. This will replace my mp3 and video player, let me read books and I can play games on it if I choose to.

    Friend of mine's found an emulator for it. He can shove pretty much any Sega or Nintendo game on the phone!

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  4. Funny that Mosh, I was looking at the E71 the other day as I may upgrade my phone at some point. Know what you mean about the Amazon badge but I'm already on the Apple bandwagon with my ipod! I'd also look for free books and at first glance, they're mostly classics that are free so maybe re-educate myself!

    Fence, know what you mean about yet another gadget but I think I'll try and justify it by asking someone to buy it for me as a present - my sisters could be be persuaded I reckon!

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  5. Isn't the Desire a erm...girl's phone? :-p

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  6. I only actually know one ... erm ... girl with one! Everyone else is male!

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  7. Only ever seen women with them, two at work have it...maybe it's just location, eg the Manc women love it!

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  8. I mostly read books in the bath or on holiday so I can't see it would work for me. But then I am the person who many years ago swore she'd never have a mobile phone - and now wouldn't go anywhere without one - so I have a tendency to get things wrong.

    It is a pretty looking thing that's for sure. But I do love pages and the smell of a book.

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  9. I agree, I love the feel and smell of a book so can't see me giving up old fashioned books. I'd probably use both - not sure how I'm going to get round the 'no buying' books rule though for the Kindle, unless I only download freebies. Hmmm...need to chew on that one!

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