shane dillon
This is my personal blog spot. All opinions expressed are my own. I use this space to post updates about cinema, digital and politics.
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shane dillon
How not to hate your Kindle e-reader
My riposte to the article titled 'Why I hate the Kindle'. This kind of hatred is merely a front for the well rehearsed arguments against e-reading as opposed to paper based reading. We live in an era when both formats will co-exist just as the books printed on paper did not wholly destroy the oral tradition of storytelling. What should be important to all who love books is not how you read but what you read; paper, electronic or if prefer reading text from the wall of a cave.
1. Paperback books like a spillage and survive. True you cannot spill your wine all over a Kindle and expect it to survive. Then again spill a glass of wine all over a paperback, smells good but can you read it?
2. You can lend a paperback books but not an e-books. Books in their tree destroying paper format have been around for a long time giving rise to library lending, second hand bookshops and yes palming a book off to your friends. The e-book and the accompanying e-book reader are relatively new so give it time and ways will be found to improve all ready existing albeit difficult ways to lend e- books to friends. The efforts of OverDrive who facilate e-lending for libraries in the UK is well worth tracking. Fair enough OverDrive and Kindle are not the best of friends but they are working on it.
3. The Kindle will destroy charity shops who rely on book selling to raise funds._ Oxfam are the most well known though it should be noted that Oxfam Furniture shops are another revenue stream. The next step for Oxfam would be to enter the e-book market themselves and sell online. Could Amazon help charities raise money through the Kindle marketplace? Having volunteered for charities I have seen how they have adapted to e-commerce by becoming power sellers on E-Bay to raise funds.
4. You can’t cut and paste quotes from an e-book. Reading is become more social and shareable, take a look at the books I am reading, peruse through my notes, see what I have highlighted:
5. 'I am an academic, what about my citations? Academic friendly e-readers are slow to emerge. Page numbering is now more widespread for recently released books. However better than moaning about page numbers for today's student, lecturers could share their reading with you as a student by having an Amazon profile.
6. The aesthetic argument. e-readers are not pretty like paper based books. I am more concerned about what the author has written rather than the book cover. Never judge a book by its cover or the person who is reading the book, with a Kindle you might not have too. Of course the vanity of paper based books is revealing. The posturing on the Tube with the book cover held aloft like a trophy or in the home 'oh look at my bookcase' containing as it does many an un-read book, Indeed an un-read Joyce looks good on the wooded shelfs. E-books, e-readers can be social, Welcome to the E-book club at your local library.
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by shane dillon
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