K – Kindle
04/12/2014 9 Comments
The Kindle was designed as a game changer. And it has filled the role of being the brand-name replacement for e-reader, like Kleenex for facial tissue, Q-Tip for cotton swab, or Hoover for vacuum (if you’re British).
And they’ve kept updating it over time. Adding the touch screen, having lots of versions available. We got some of the cheaper ones with ads for the lock screen: not intrusive, and some nice savings. Because where there’s money to be made is in the e-books.
I wrote about e-books the other day. And I’m honestly not sure what I was thinking, including e-books with Kindle in the list. Maybe I wanted to talk about e-readers as well as e-books. So while the Kindle itself is neat, let’s talk e-readers in general.
You can search them, adding search to a book. That’s neat and handy with non-fiction, and great for us quotes freaks trying to find a quote in a book. You can adjust the font, so that if you have a vision problem you can match what you are reading with what is comfortable. You can even have it read the words to you.
In fact, you can skip that and get your hands on audio books one your e-reader as well. I’ve only listened to a few, but Wil Wheaton’s reading of Ready Player One is worth the time, I assure you.
Add in the neat functions of e-books, like how many you can fit easily on a device and carry with you (or not fill up your bookshelf), and you have a strong case for saying that this is a game-changer of a device.
Yet here we are, still with books. The newness is still definitely a factor: the business side is all still being figured out. And the rights issues! Do we really own these books? Or if they magically disappear from the Cloud, what can we do about it? I know that subscription-based services are pretty strong business models these days, from Hulu to NetFlix, or even World of Warcraft. And there’s Amazon’s Prime service, giving you access to shows and movies and such as well. Maybe that’s a future business model for their e-books?
Gee, that sounds a lot like a library…
Is that Amazon’s future? After replacing bookstores, will they replace libraries? I guess time will tell! Or you could, in the comments below!
About CompGeeksDavid
DBCII 
I enjoy the e-reader I have. I do notice a big difference between reading paper copies and making notes and making notes on e-readers, though. In general, I read stuff that I’m reading to work with, to write about, in paper copies, and I read books that I just want to read for fun on the e-reader. I do better, when taking notes and using highlights, with a text that I can physically flip through.
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Yeah, I haven’t really gotten into the note-taking, highlighting, or bookmarking features on my Kindle. Given I’ve bought a number of my favorite books on e-book (just to have them I guess), I maybe should go through and find my favorite quotes and such and note them! But pen and paper is better. Although I do a lot of my note taking lately on my iPad…
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I love my Kindle and was at first skeptical that I would. But I found it is convenient and in today’s society that is a good thing. As much as I hate what it is doing to our bookstores. Our local library has made the move and started loaning E – copies of their books.
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See, I wonder if it’s the Kindles doing that to bookstores, or if it was going to happen anyway with online stores like Amazon. Did the e-book market just hasten that trend? I guess we may never know now.
I think many libraries probably always wanted to get in on something like e-books – but it hasn’t been easy with the publishers. Then again, with price fixing practices that have only recently been stricken down, it hasn’t been easy with the publishers on the consumer front either…
I do feel guilty when I am in the local bookstore and am taking notes of books I want to buy – and by taking notes, I mean adding to my Amazon wishlist. There is value in the bookstore, in having a human being present the books to you, to helping you find something good or new to read. We definitely still buy things there, but by no means do we buy all of our books there!
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So after this post is up, I of course find this gem:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/feature.html/?docId=1000739811
The Kindle Owners’ Lending Library. With Amazon Prime, not only are they giving you access to shows (like you might get with a service like Hulu or NetFlix), but they are giving access to Kindle books. They claim to have 350,000 titles.
Subscription services replacing ownership, and Amazon paving the way… it’s like I wrote that blog post…
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Recently I read a post about a lending kindle library : http://ramisatheauthoress.wordpress.com/2014/04/09/lendle-the-perfect-library-for-kindle-lovers-worldwide-free-books/
I’ve not gotten into the e-book revolution too much yet. To me it’s hard to read on my ipad (that’s where I tried it out) as I can’t flip back to check if such and such character is the one that did such and such or is he the one that did something or other. It’s really irritating that It’s not easy to jump around a book when I can search for whatever I want on a website. It’s actually easier to put a book on hold at the library, wait for it to come, drive over there to pick it up and then read it before a deadline. It actually also makes me pick and choose what I read more.
I do wonder though at the convenience of having whatever book you feel like ready and waiting. I don’t travel around much so I’m really not the target audience of such a feature.
I thought you might like the article above in any case. Give is a quick glance to see if you’d be interested. Cheers.
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I have a kindle and use it mainly for traveling and for borrowing ebooks from my library. If a book that I want to read is available as a very inexpensive ebook, I’ll buy it–but I’ve never bought anything on a whim for my kindle. I have bought some inexpensive ebook versions of favorite titles, as I’m a big re-reader and it’s just another way to have special books with me at all times!
One odd thing I’ve noticed is that it’s more difficult for me to remember specific books that I’ve only read via my kindle–and I think that’s mainly due to not seeing the cover every time I read them.
I agree with a previous comment that it’s harder for me to go back and check a plot point or character name, etc when reading on my kindle. That’s a downside for me.
I have to believe (and fervently hope!) that there will always be physical books. There’s a cartoon I saw recently of a book and a broom sitting at a bar. The broom says to the book., “They invented the vacuum cleaner, and I’m still here . . .” That about sums it up for me!
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For me the trouble has been reading books with a map at the front. Like Game of Thrones – having to flip back to the front, then use the table of contents to get back where I was. And since the contents are character names, that wasn’t easy, and was full of spoilers! But it was a very light 1000 page book…
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Kindle! It seems so obvious I can’t believe more writers didn’t pick it as their “K” post. I have no idea abut the future of Amazon. I’m not a big Amazon fan (or Google either), yet they seem to be taking over the world much as MicroSoft did.
Lexa Cain’s Blog
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