Wednesday, August 25, 2010

A purchase

Have taken the plunge and ordered a Kindle - they're not shipping till mid-September, but I won't be in New York to pick it up till the end of September in any case.

I have held out against it for quite some time, and am more inherently attracted to the iPad as a device, but I am having serious book supply issues during this Cayman-based time, and realize that the Kindle is now cheap enough that even if it's only an auxiliary device, it is worth my while to have one.

But what I really want is to be able to get LIBRARY books electronically! I am really missing proximity to the Columbia library...

4 comments:

  1. I LOVE my Kindle! It's been my constant companion for 10 months, and I don't think I would have lasted on this extended trip away from home, living out of a suitcase with limited ability to carry hard copies of anything, without it. Obviously, the selection available is limited relative to all books ever published, but it keeps me entertained!

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  2. How very interesting that you should do and post this today. I have just been thinking that I will probably buy an e-reader in early 2012, because that is probably when they will hit tipping point and I am the total tipping point gal (FB in 2008, blog in 2004, cell phone in 2000). But then I thought I may not buy one till they organize a library feature, given my library book tendencies. And then I was thinking about how it will alter my visual reading habits (shifting eye from left to right page, etc.). But I do know that it is inevitable... Will be very interested to hear your impressions.

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  3. I too have held out on all this e-reader stuff, despite a good friend being rather taken with her Sony reader and me being rather attracted by it. One issue in the UK is the digital rights management. On the Kindle, so far, we have had to in effect use the US site, so often books advertised are not actually available in e-form in Europe becaue of the DRM. As of September, that is all changing and we'll be able to get tens of thousands of books via Amazon too.

    I was dithering over this but when Prof Petrona saw the Amazon site, the specs, etc, he insisted on buying one for my birthday in early Sept (though like you we have to wait a while for it to ship). I don't suppose I'll get much of a chance to actually use it because I live in a house of people who like gadgets and I'm temperamentally opposed to them. But it will come in useful on holiday when I am in the "weight allowance vs boredom" equation. (On my recent 2 week holiday I read 18 books.)

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  4. The reason why would I want to use Kindle in the first place is that it can hold many titles. I like the idea of having an electronic library that takes up very little physical space.

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