With the house all dusty and disrupted I spent more time than usual "on the road" (or simply out around the corner) last week and one of the essentials I carried with me was something to read during lunch in the coffee shops. Chris had encouraged me to try out his Kindle (his Christmas present from me which had proven such a boon on his recent journeys to England and back) and every time I sat down to use it in a public place, it attracted a good deal of attention.
"Excuse me, what's that you've got there? I couldn't help noticing ..."
"Oh, is that a Kindle? If you don't mind my asking, how much did you pay for it?"
"Do you like it? Is it easy to use? How many books can you put on it? Can you buy anything you want? How much do the books cost? Do you think you'll stop reading ordinary books now that you've got one of these? Sorry to ask so many questions but my sister keeps a small bookshop!"
To bookshop owners, the Kindle is a major threat. Perhaps they're right to worry. The technology is still in its early stages and the number of available books is still limited to what Amazon thinks will sell well, plus the free-of-charge classics (out of copyright) that can be downloaded from the Project Gutenberg website. Even so, perhaps traditional books will soon go the same way as the papyrus scrolls and waxed tablets of ancient times so that electronic literature become the norm, with the result that our bookshelves will become obsolete. Well, the consequence will be less lifting and carrying, and less dusting.
Which brings me back to the beginning of this post.
2 comments:
I find it very interesting that the device is called a KINDLE. If I were cynical, I might speculate how soon the soon the KINDLING will ignite the book-burning to follow.
No colour, lots of DRM, always waiting for the page to turn.... think I'll stick to a netbook!
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