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whatonearth
Member
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Posted Mon Jan 21st, 2008 6:17pm Post subject: The kindle
though I consider myself open to new technology I am rather old-fashioned when it comes to books. Books appeal to all our senses, they smell and it's a joy to touch good paper. I wouldn't want to do away with that. It is striking that books have not changed over the last, say, 1500 years. It's the perfect medium. You're able to read a 400-year-old book just by opening it. I doubt whether future generations in, say, 200 years, are able to read our e-books without laborious upgrading or converting the content to more current formats.
that reminds me of when i got a book out of my uni library for an essay, and on the inside corner it was signed by eleanor rathbone (who had associations with my uni, well there's a building named after her too :P) and i was pretty excited to know that i had a book that she possibly owned at some point (it was from 1927)...well you wouldn't get that with an e-book.
see so many people lament the end of the golden age of writing letters to each other (who doesn't love getting a handwritten letter from a friend?) and people will do the same with books. i don't want to be all anti-change and a purist just for the sake of it but i do love having books on my shelf and holding them and all that rubbish and an e-book in any form would definitely take some time getting used to. plus technology just seems so fragile...for example if you break a CD, that's just one CD, but if you break your computer and haven't backed everything up then that's potentially an entire music collection. it's scary!
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whatonearth
Member
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Posted Mon Jan 21st, 2008 6:22pm Post subject: The kindle
But for reference books, textbooks, workbooks, and other non-foofy-artistic reading, it has got to be put in digital format. Think how much money it would save students to digitally update their ebook rather than buy a new edition. Think of carrying around an entire semester's worth of texts in your jacket pocket.
that is a very good point but isn't that also basically just another way of looking at websites, like online journals? if you're wanting something that continually updates then you might as well just have something on the internet that you have to register for and look at it on your computer. bit of a pain in the arse if you're wanting to do some revision in the park on a sunny day or whatever but apart from it being physically smaller i don't see a huge difference.
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tangojulietdelta
Member
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Posted Mon Jan 21st, 2008 7:38pm Post subject: The kindle
Exactly. In 10 years, it'll all be the same, hopefully on one small, portable, multipurpose device. What we call ebooks now will be...less of a book and more of a program, I guess, that you could download if you needed to. But that would all be dependent on the growth of free wireless networks, which, at least in some countries, isn't looking too healthy as a political trend.
Anyhoo! That's one of the major reasons I wouldn't invest in the Kindle (or any ebook device). Because soon it won't be, you know...viable.
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whatonearth
Member
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Posted Mon Jan 21st, 2008 7:57pm Post subject: The kindle
palm pilots? phones with the internet? i don't know, i'm far from a technology geek. i get annoyed by wires and dodgy connections and everything, but then i still always follow a few steps behind...
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Nellie
Member
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Posted Tue Jan 22nd, 2008 10:54pm Post subject: The kindle
Hi, I'm just jumping in to say that I have many books and wouldn't want a kindle (that name,why!? Sounds like something once used to do washing). Point taken about research and text books etc. but as was mentioned e-books cannot be shared, and we have t'internet 
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Anonymous
Unregistered
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Posted Tue Jan 22nd, 2008 11:48pm Post subject: The kindle
Hi, I'm just jumping in to say that I have many books and wouldn't want a kindle (that name,why!? Sounds like something once used to do washing).
I always assumed kindle was a play on kindling, which of course it (as opposed to books) can't serve as.
Possibly I am over thinking things.
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runewoodman
Member
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Posted Sun Jan 27th, 2008 2:54am Post subject: The kindle
[quote="-mockingbird-"]
see so many people lament the end of the golden age of writing letters to each other (who doesn't love getting a handwritten letter from a friend?)
I realise my quoting this is probably completely off topic but I feel compelled to tell you that people at my workplace often comment on my handwriting. They tell me I should take pages of my writing, frame them and sell them - not for the content but for the originality of the indecipherable scribble.
The truth behind the scribble is that I'm not particularly clever and do not spell very well - so with my written visual style the casual observer cannot read on my note-pad, "He said 'synergismic', is that a word? Look it up".
I have found that by always wearing clean clothes to work, getting plenty of sleep and writing in a manner that no-one can read gives the appearance that I am intelligent. This leads to me being invited to lots of meetings – and as we all know having a diary full of meetings is assurance of future promotion.
If writing by hand were to be totally lost I expect I’d find myself poor and unemployable.
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DianaQ
Member
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Posted Thu Feb 12th, 2009 10:24am Post subject: The kindle
As a former librarian, I do love the smell of books and have a few treasured volumes from the late 1800s.
But being on the move a lot (husband is military), means that there's a very limited amount of books I can bring along.
Both my husband and I are interested in getting eReaders, but we're against the Kindle. The fact that it's limited to the US is a big downer for us.
We're thinking about getting a BeBook in the near future.
If I may be excused for the advertising, I found a lot of information at mobileread.com about eReaders (I'm not affiliated with them, just have been shopping around for the right product).
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famn
Member
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Posted Sun Jan 24th, 2010 3:02pm Post subject: The kindle
Have a Kindle, Love my Kindle... but there aren't any of the Stephen Fry books available in the Australian Store!! Nor is the ultimate book - The Hitchhiker's guide to the Galaxy - available on the Australian store... hope this is just a silly international copyright thing and it will all be resolved soon? I have noticed a lot more titles being available to the OZ Kindle user over the last few months... Other than that I have heaps of Kindle titles now and it is a breeze to carry so many of my favourite novels (well thumbed novels?? well... not quite on the kindle) when I travel. I also have the restriction of living ex-pat for a few years so not wanting to build up bulk before the next move... I'm sure they can make the "Sniff" in a spray can - like the "New Car Sniff" they sell!!
I only panic a bit... incase I am sitting on a beach or on a plane and in walks the author... How do I get my book signed if I am reading Kindle version???
Otherwise LOVE my Kindle - easy on the eyes and easy to hold, flip pages etc. Navigation and file structure of books could be worked on... but still... have I mentioned I LOVE it??
Fiona
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