I love the concept of the Kindle - to be able to have so many books at your fingertips at one time is especially great for traveling. Between traveling for work and traveling with my kids, I can use all the space savers I can get! But there is one big reason holding me back from jumping on it: the library.
It's not that I'm afraid of the downfall of the library, it's that if I read via Kindle, I'd have to actually purchase all the books that I read rather than borrow them from the library. I'm a bit too cheap right now for a Kindle. It totally works for me to borrow from the library, so why would I change that? It's not like buying the book supports the medium of e-books - you have to buy the Kindle to begin with, so Amazon's getting their money.
I think one of my biggest arguments against getting a Kindle is that most of the books I'd want on the Kindle, because I read and re-read them, I already own a hardcopy of. I'd have to re-purchase them to get the e-reader version and that's another knock against my frugal side. Too bad Amazon doesn't provide a discount on books for Kindle that were originally purchased through them. It's not like they don't have all of our purchases in a database somewhere anyway.
I did have to laugh at an article I read recently about how the Kindles are quite popular with the Romance Novel reading crowd - you can be reading it without displaying to the world the covers that aren't always what you want people to see you holding. Since I'm not in that category of readers, I don't have a lot of added incentive to get one.
I'm quite interested in the technology though, and how they can create the reading screen that doesn't have the usual glare issues. Technology is so much fun!
I guess for now I have to settle for my iPhone and just keep waiting for the right time to get a Kindle (or iPad!).
It's not that I'm afraid of the downfall of the library, it's that if I read via Kindle, I'd have to actually purchase all the books that I read rather than borrow them from the library. I'm a bit too cheap right now for a Kindle. It totally works for me to borrow from the library, so why would I change that? It's not like buying the book supports the medium of e-books - you have to buy the Kindle to begin with, so Amazon's getting their money.
I think one of my biggest arguments against getting a Kindle is that most of the books I'd want on the Kindle, because I read and re-read them, I already own a hardcopy of. I'd have to re-purchase them to get the e-reader version and that's another knock against my frugal side. Too bad Amazon doesn't provide a discount on books for Kindle that were originally purchased through them. It's not like they don't have all of our purchases in a database somewhere anyway.
I did have to laugh at an article I read recently about how the Kindles are quite popular with the Romance Novel reading crowd - you can be reading it without displaying to the world the covers that aren't always what you want people to see you holding. Since I'm not in that category of readers, I don't have a lot of added incentive to get one.
I'm quite interested in the technology though, and how they can create the reading screen that doesn't have the usual glare issues. Technology is so much fun!
I guess for now I have to settle for my iPhone and just keep waiting for the right time to get a Kindle (or iPad!).
RSS Feed