Like many Americans this holiday season, I’ve become the pleased owner of an e-reader device. In my case, a Kindle. Three years ago, when these pocket-sized wonders first appeared and were priced around $400, I balked mentally and financially at owning one. [Mine cost me $139 this month.]
Holding an electronic tablet, I was convinced, simply wouldn’t give me the same sensual pleasure as holding a book, smelling the paper, feeling the "hand" of the rag, and dog-earring the pages gives me. I wanted none of it. To an extent, my feelings were justified. My Kindle has no identifiable aroma; I feel nothing in particular when I touch its graphite colored hide; there are no pages to bend, although I can still dog-ear or bookmark to find my place.
But, in fact, my biggest objection to e-readers sprang from ignorance.
I thought the e-reading experience would be just like reading a monitor like I’m doing now as I type this in my word processing program on my PC. I'd have to be reading "light" in the form of pixels, which is hard on the eyes. I was wrong. The Kindle (I don’t know about other devices, like the i-Pad) does not use pixels to produce text and images. It uses "electronic paper" (or e-ink) technology.
But I can do so much more that I couldn’t do with a book and I can do it in a greener more environmentally friendly fashion. In short, I’m a convert e-reader who feels good about the e-book experience. More than books alone, I can read magazines, newspapers, blogs, my personal documents in various formats that I upload myself or that are sent to my dedicated Kindle e-mail address and forwarded to my device via Whispernet, and even access the Internet (beta test). I can play games (Scrabble’s my current favorite) and even listen to background music while doing so from files saved to my MP3 "music folder."
The first thing I noticed is that I read faster, particularly in vertical mode. Yes, the Kindle user has a choice to read books in the narrower (vertical) mode or in landscape, which is slightly wider than a trade paperback. But I can do more. I can increase or decrease the font size, alter typeface, line spacing, and words per line, which is a boon to readers who may have been restricted to Large Print editions in order to enjoy their favorite hobby. Now any book can be made into a Large Print-to-order volume. The user can even magnify pictures for greater clarity of detail. Beyond that, many e-book titles can convert text to voice. Not only visually impaired readers can enjoy a wider range of books beyond audible and Braille libraries, but beginning readers have a friendly companion to read along with, enabling them to achieve reading literacy faster and more easily.
The version of Kindle I own comes equipped with 3G technology and can also acquire Wi-Fi that allows it to work anywhere. I’m a rural dial-up Internet accessor, but even out here on the edge of the Everglades, my Kindle downloads reading matter, alligators be damned! International travel does involve a small fee for 3G delivery of your weekend New York Times while you work on that humanitarian aid project in Kabul. And if you’re truly isolated – say living under a cactus in the Mojave desert inside a hi-tech Bio-Dome – then you’ll have to get your reading material by USB connection with your computer.
There are lots of other features that I love about my e-reader, including how easy it is to organize my reading material into Categories and create a virtual library system. Right now I have Games, Samples, Public Domain, Periodicals, Blogs, and Reference on my home page in addition to the default User’s Guide, Clippings (You can clip and save choice bits for yourself or share them via e-mail or social network sites.), and the free-floating (as it were) titles of the two books I bought and am currently reading from the Kindle store: Cutting for Stone by Abraham Verghese and Invisible (an Ivy Malone mystery) by Lorena McCourtney, a book I'm trying because it's not what I normally read and the price was right.
Where I live, over 10 miles from the nearest library and over 20 miles from the independent bookstore I shop at, buying e-books can be cheaper than physically going to those locations and it reduces my carbon footprint, too. The same applies to ordering books on line that cost more and must be physically shipped.
Now I’d like to read your comments about your questions, preferences, discoveries, tips, uses, fears, and how (if you are an owner) your e-device enhanced or degraded your reading experience. If you have a lot to say, for instance you want to talk about how you use your Kindle to further the Progressive cause in politics, please write a diary and republish it to Readers & Book Lovers, and I’ll put it up on the Group blog site in DK-4. Just remember to add the Group name tag (R&BLers also works) and send me a message to BOLO for it.