(Untitled)

[mobley]

Here’s what you buy when you buy a Kindle book. You buy the right to display a grouping of words in front of your eyes for your private use with the aid of an electronic display device approved by Amazon. The company uses an encoding format called Topaz. (“Topaz” is also the name of a novel by Leon Uris, not available at the Kindle Store.) ...

Comments

[xaotica]

I absolutely love my kindle. This article reminds me of people who say they don't like iPods because you can only use iTunes and can only buy mp3s via the iTunes store. If they'd spend 10 minutes googling, they'd realize that an iPod is an external hard drive. You can get mp3s from anywhere, use a myriad of software programs with it, put your own random non-music non-movie files on it, etc

[erik]

I agree with and support everything you say here... as we move increasingly in a digital direction we do become more efficient and economical. Having one small device that can hold hundreds of books does, in one sense, make a lot more sense than physically having hundreds which you have to store

[xaotica]

I can't think of an object I feel an attachment to in and of itself. I'm a packrat, but more because I want to be able to access something should I unexpectedly need it than because the physical thing itself is the value. Like if you took my favorite hoodie and replaced it with an identical hoodie that I hadn't been wearing for years I wouldn't feel a sense of loss. I do get attached to things like people and places but I can't go somewhere else and have the same exact person or place so it's not quite the same

[mobley]

i don't think it's the same thing as an ipod, except with books... if you plug your headphones into a stereo with a record player, a cd player, or an mp3 player, you're getting more or less the same thing. i have problems viscerally with the kindle in that it's just not a book, but i'm an old fuddy duddy who actually enjoys the process of reading a book made out of paper with a font chosen by the publisher and other neat things books have that kindle's don't. like in the books the cheese monkeys or a heartbreaking work of staggering genius they did all types of fun things with the books that weren't in the body of text. also, books look cool on a bookshelf, and when visiting someone i like being able to peruse theirs to see what books we have in common

[rockstarbob]

I hear you loud and clear, but I still dig my Kindle/iPhone. I think one thing people are missing is that having a Kindle doesn't mean you give up real books. I love the sensual (not in the sexy sense... just tactile) experience of a good book. I like seeing the font, what kind of paper is used, where the previous reader dogeared it, how it smells. I like taking it outdoors and not worrying if it gets beaten up.

But I also like having books on my phone to read when paper books are not possible, convenient, or optimal. Like on the bus. I have read about one million trashy vampire novels this summer, just on my phone. They weren't books I wanted to own or experience in analog format anyway, so it's all good. I think it's totes poss to do both.

[mobley]

that makes sense. i did like his point about getting an ipod touch/iphon instead of a kindle as it has multiple uses and can do more or less the same thing, and you can read in the dark. also, it makes more sense than paying over $300 for a single use or narrowly used item that wouldn't ever really replace books for me.

the smell though bob, that old book smell... i love it.

[xaotica]

The thing an iPhone can't do is be readable in as many conditions, tho I'm terribly attached to my iPhone and ts variety of uses make it more valuable than the kindle overall

[mobley]

a kindle isn't viewable in the dark, is it? i feel like an iphone would be readable in almost more conditions. i know eventually we're gonna have a flexible sheet that serves as a multi use device for anything we need, that uses minimal energy and can be read anywhere.