I swear I’m not. I still love the smell, the feel, the weight, the crispness, the colors, and the fact that you can dog-ear the pages. I love the way they look on my shelves. I love collecting fancy and not-so-fancy bookmarks for the sole purpose of marking my place.
I still do, and always will, love books made of paper.
But it’s time for me to admit that lugging a pile of books with me when I travel (which I do) is sort of a pain in the ass, especially when I have another option. I admit, I’m slow to embrace technology. A few years ago I had no interest in owning an iPod. What for? I had my trusty portable CD player, and burning mix CDs was fun. Never mind that the thing was clunky and skipped if I knocked it around too much. But then Steve got an iPod, and I tried his out a couple of times and thought, “Well, maybe…“
Now I can’t live without my iPod classic. My entire music library is on there, and it’s never not in my purse. I play it in the car, I listen to it when I work out, I certainly can’t imagine traveling without it, and every week I’m downloading new music and making new playlists.
And so now we come to the era of the e-reader.
My birthday was Sunday, and since I’m still not too old to receive birthday money (thanks Mom!), I finally went ahead and ordered this beauty from Amazon:
The Kindle. Latest generation. Graphite gray. It’s not the sexiest piece of electronics I’ve ever seen, but I’ve decided that looks don’t matter. What matters is what it can do. What matters is that I can bring my books with me everywhere I go.
Too bad it’s on backorder! It won’t even ship until September 17th. Rats.
I honestly don’t believe that owning an e-reader will replace my desire to purchase paper books. Will I buy less paper books? Definitely. But there are authors whose work I love so much that I can’t imagine I won’t be buying their books in hardcover or paperback like I always have. Perhaps if I really love the books, I’ll own them in both electronic and paper (now tell me that isn’t being super supportive of the author and the publishing industry as a whole!). I still think my bookshelves will fill up… just more slowly.
The Kindle also supports Word and PDF documents, so you can bet that I’ll be downloading my own stuff to be read and edited right on the e-reader. Now that’s cool.
Although, here’s something to ponder: wouldn’t it be ironic if CREEP wasn’t made into an e-book?
So you've moved over to the dark side…uh, electronic side…
Can't wait to hear how you feel about reading your first book on it!
I could not live with out the Kindle on my iPhone. The best part is exactly what you said – portability. My phone goes everywhere with me, so I always have a book. Welcome to the dark side (hehehehe, Jen).
I'm resisting . . . resisting . . . despite my adoration of gadgets and new technology . . . I have yet to pick up one of these e-readers and see for myself how wonderful they are; I know if I do . . . all will be lost.
I'm like you…I'll never stop buying the hardback version of my favorite authors, but a Kindle (or something similar) does serve a valid purpose. Kudo's to you!!
I am totally struggling with this. I got a Kindle DX for my birthday and I love it but I can't imagine not buying hard copies anymore, so I would think I'd probably buy BOTH also. I wish Amazon would have a system where if you bought the hard copy from them, you could order the e-copy for some nominal fee. I would actually spend the money, and they'd make more — since I would have purchased the hard copy anyway.
Jen: Guess whose book I'm reading first on the Kindle? 😉
Joann: I can imagine that the Kindle will always be stuck in my purse. It's definitely light enough.
Milo: I felt — okay, still feel — exactly the way you do. What sold me in the end was playing around with my mom's Kindle.
DL: Thanks! I definitely hope the e-reader will make for easier traveling.
Liz: HI!! Totally agree about the nominal fee. Like, if you buy the hardcover, you can download the e-book for an extra $1-2. I think you can do that with some DVDs now. That would be ideal for us readers.
These are the reasons you're not a traitor:
1) My blog is available on Kindle. (In case you want to PAY for it!)
2) I'm thinking of putting a book up there for fun.
3) While I don't want a Kindle, I can see the allure for travel.
I bet it comes sooner. Amazon always gives a doomsday shipping date.