With all the hype surrounding e-books and e-readers, you'd think that they were technology's gift to god.
But in reality the underpowered, underfunctioning e-reader, whether it's a Kindle or a Sony or an iPad, is a remarkably expensive gizmo that serves to take value away from books, rather than enhance them.
A DRM infected e-book can't be transferred multiple times and you can't sell them on as part of a "licence" that you sign up to when you buy one. Books are not your own.
And the publishers and the manufacturers of e-readers have put the cart before the horse. If you drool over an iPad, like Stephen Fry did at the launch, don't forget that like all other electronic gizmos, your machine only has a limited life and sooner or later you're going to have to trade up to a newer model.
E-readers should be given away by the publishers in much the same way as Hewlett Packard gives away highly sophisticated printers, knowing that you're going to have to pay through the nose for ink.
The manufacturers of the e-readers tout their benefits over reading electronic texts on a computer - citing screen glare as one of the major reasons for getting a dedicated reader. But the readers lack pure horsepower. While it's true that a notebook is not the most ideal method for reading, it can do a lot more than a Kindle or a Sony or an iPad can.
So the idea is that you pay through the nose for an electronic device in addition to all the other gizmos that you own. The fact is that the technology will get better and cheaper as time passes and you're going to end up with yet more useless electronic junk to throw away into landfill.
The one thing an e-reader certainly doesn't have is the aesthetic appeal of a beautifully produced book and doesn't compare to having volumes on a bookshelf that you can dip into and out of at will. Electronic texts are fantastic as is the access to information over the internet through projects such as the British Library/Microsoft scheme.
Just round the corner from where I live, there's a fabulous Mind charity shop where I've bought some really wonderful books at ludicrously cheap prices. It's a real pleasure to browse for books whether they're second hand or not, rather than hunch over yet another fancy bit of electronics and continually browsing the internet.
I got mine a while ago prior to a trip to Europe in which I knew I would spend lots of dead time in planes, trains and lines. Instead of carrying lots of books or throwing paperbacks at each port, I had more than enough to read in an easy package.
Now, I have never bought an ebook nor do I plan to do so until you can get them without DRM, what if my device dies? All the books would be gone with it and then you would have to beg on your knees to get them transferred to a new device, without any insurance that the stores will allow you to do so (DRM mp3s anyone?).
Make them bigger and many engineers will be happy to carry plans on them, make them cheaper (the monopoly on eink is a killer now) and students will happily use them instead of carrying several kilos of textbooks every day, and pray we'll see the equivalent of Magnatune or the amazon mp3 store in which there is no DRM on the books.
Then it will make sense for consumers to get them.
You bought an e-reader, which gave you more than enough to read on your trip, but have never bought an ebook?
What did you read on it then?
I like that it can be purchased with or without Wi-Fi. A lot of publishers are signed on to support this device.
My most interest is in the device as a use for college, where I can download books onto it. Instead of paying these ridiculous book prices while in college.
If we could get rid of most text books in colleges and just download the books, Wow! What a savings cost to the student. Pay $499 for the basic apple device and there you go. Down load your books.
I like the fill and touch of a good book myself, but my stepson just forked over $500 in books this last semester. That is expensive and he will get nothing for these books at the end of the semester.
Schools in the long run would save huge amounts of money if they did digital books for students in college and high school.
Now for you Green people out there. What about the environment. The Apple device is environmentally friendly. Check out their website. No more books wasted and trees destroyed.
There will not be multitasking on this device, but you can download IWorks and that is awesome. A great writing tool, not to mention the other formats that you can buy like Keyes and Numbers.
Make up your own mind. I own multiple PC's, have two Mac Book Pro's, two I-PHones, and multiple I-Pods. I love my Mac and also like my PC. Both have their uses.
The I-Pad from what I see is going to help me a lot in school and that is my purpose for buying it. I will buy the 3G 64 Gig for storage space and internet on the go, which is cheap for $30 dollars for unlimited internet. I pay that much for my I-Phone plan.
You make up your own minds. I did.
A very expensive gadget as well and it will die when the built in lithium battery dies or is no longer available.
Years ago, expensive devices had battery compartments for replaceable standard batteries.
Like another E-reader of the past, the Radio Shack Tandy 102. It could download text and other files.
I would rather invest $100 in a netbook, yes they can be bought for that price new, and store the books on removable flash memory.
There are lots of free e-reader programs available on the web.
It might be handy now to have books on a reader now, but the future is where the knowledge will benefit you.
Considering, we only retain 10% of what we studied.
In the future, your E-reader will be long gone, along with all the books you studied.
I kept all of my college books and you should if you are planning a lifetime career in any technical field.
You fill find your books valuable 10, 20, 30 years in the future.
Technology changes, but the physics by which it works does not change.
Keep your books, if on a reader, print them out on paper, make a book out of them.
In general, people without a past have little prospects for a future.
John of Archive