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Younghusband
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Younghusband

Date

October 29th, 2009

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My stack of books to read suddenly got a lot smaller, but …

Younghusband's Kindle

… the list suddenly got a lot easier to add to.

The new International Kindle arrived on our shores last week. I have long awaited this day and picked one up right away. The Kindle is an electronic book reader, but I think it is more of an electronic book buying device. I have already added too many books. Like iTunes, I can see that the convenience of the Kindle bookstore is going to be a stress on the wallet.

Comments to this entry

Sejo
October 29, 2009
9:48 am
I beg your pardon for my complete lack of knowledge but, is it possible to print the Kindle books?
I just cannot think of having read a book that I cannot touch.
Younghusband
October 29, 2009
11:19 am
Ummm... no. Printing the books would completely defeat the advantages of electronic books which include: 1) being paperless, 2) taking no space to store, 3) being searchable, 4) infinite and searchable annotations, and of course 5) near-instant delivery. Not to say that there aren't disadvantages as well, but I digress.

Conceptually, eBooks will take some getting used to. For example, do you have an MP3 player? I have not purchased a CD for more than 5 years due to the digitization of music. I hope the same of books within the next 5 years. But books have been with us a lot longer than audio and video media have, so it will probably take more time.
Roy Berman
October 29, 2009
1:57 pm
I've bought a handful of CDs from bands too obscure to find online, usually a local band I see at a show and then like. But of course I rip it immediately, and then never see the CD itself again. I wouldn't be surprised if printing is an option on the PC version of the Kindle software that's supposed to be coming out soon. Even though the Kindle has that notation feature, I can definitely see the appeal of printing out a section on paper for some heavy note-taking and margin doodling.

As for a whole book? Well, printing out an entire book on a home printer would probably cost about as much as buying a copy of the book itself, so it's a relatively worthless feature to have. As for out of print books, well print on demand is gradually becoming more available and is set to become a very serious option in the near future when the Google bookstore is running. Of course, I would also expect Amazon to come out with a similar service, which would probably be linked to the Kindle store in some way. I.e., out of print books are for sale cheap in Kindle, and if you buy the digital form you get a discount on ordering a print-on-demand copy. That would be very nice.
Thomas
October 29, 2009
2:43 pm
I'm not sure how appropriate the mp3/Ebook comparison is.

Listening to music is a fundamentally auditory experience. This has been especially true since the advent of digital music formats more than a quarter century ago. Very few people were invested in the feel of a CD or a jewel case.

Books are much more tactile. There is a feel to books, a fundamental part of the reading experience that goes beyond interpreting symbols on the page. While those kind of books that foreground information, certain kinds of nonfiction and textbooks, are perfect for the Kindle, the physical experience of holding, manipulating and even smelling a book will make sure that paper remains the norm for sometime to come.
Nick Kapur
October 29, 2009
3:33 pm
The Face of Battle is a great book.
T. Greer
October 29, 2009
8:28 pm
I agree with Thomas on this one. I don't think I could ever use the Kindle... I enjoy marking up passages in different colors and furiously scribbling in the margins too much.
Kirk Sowell
October 29, 2009
10:17 pm
I've not tried the Kindle or any eBook, but I agree that the analogy between CDs and books doesn't really match. It requires no extra effort to listen to a song downloaded versus played from a CD. From reading things on the web, I know that if an article is very long I much prefer printing it out to reading it online. Of course, maybe reading an eBook is different from a computer monitor. Like I said, I've not tried it. I think I'd have to try out someone else's and really get comfortable with it before I would consider buying one. It would certainly help deal with the bulk problem, though. My library, while being a major asset, has become something of a burden as I move around.
SJPONeill
October 30, 2009
12:00 am
I drive a lot and have subscribed to Audible.com books for years...the one big disadvantage of an audio book is earchability if you are trying to find a specific section or quote - I'd be quite keen on Kindle or similar if you could buy botht he digital and audio versions of a book at the same time - that way I could listen when driving etc, but read when not ina handsfree environment and also be able to search and look up books.
Younghusband
October 30, 2009
1:48 am
My MP3/eBook analogy was more about the digitization of media rather than tactile nostalgia. I never said CDs have disappeared, just that I don't buy them anymore. The same with books. Physical books are the most secure repositories of knowledge known to man. I doubt that any digital format will be able to replace that.

@T.Greer: I also love to make notes. But I don't like to deface books. That is exactly why I got the Kindle. Also, you never have to worry about running out of margin space! (and all your notes are searchable)

@Kirk: I would always print out long articles too. That is also why I wanted an eInk device, which is totally different than reading off of a screen since there is no backlight. It is a very good reading experience so far. I recommend giving it a try.

@SJPO: Love Audible. As for searching for quotes, I use Amazon's Look Inside feature. In fact, I use it for the physical books I own. Instead of flipping through hundreds of pages of post-it note annotations that I have made, I will use Look Inside to find the page number of the quote I am looking for instantaneously.

But I know what you mean and that is why I tend to limit my Audible books to those that I simply want to read rather than to study. Books for study require annotation, and that is where paper and the Kindle come in handy.
Sperwer
October 30, 2009
2:32 am
Of course, here in Korea, the self-proclaimed most wired nation in the world, but one still laboring mightily under a heavy protectionist blanket, neither the Kindle nor any competitive product is available for the time being - probably not until well after Samsung has well-established some inferior product.
Younghusband
October 30, 2009
10:15 am
Actually, Korea is the only place where you can get the iRiver Story which I was seriously considering before the International Kindle was released.
Michael
October 31, 2009
10:13 pm
Sadistic, ain't it? At least with paper books, you're limited by shelf space . . .
spandrell
October 31, 2009
11:37 pm
can it display japanese or chinese fonts?