Monday, August 20, 2012

Kindle

I can't believe it.  People who know me well can't believe it.

I got a Kindle.

I've been one of the most "anti-kindle" voices for years.  I had all sorts of reasons in my mind why I should not have a Kindle.  And then suddenly, without warning, I took the plunge and got one.  It's almost like I woke up one day with counters to the reasons for not getting an electronic reading device swimming around in my mind.

I like the feel of a physical book...well, I do.  And I will still read the occasional physical book, but really it's much easier to take my reading material with me in Kindle form.  It's easier to hold, pack in my purse, and has a plethora of reading choices.  Plus, I don't have to figure out what to do with the physical book after I'm done reading it.  Should I sell it, give it away, let it take up space in my house?  Problem solved.

If I pay for a book, I want to own a copy...this was tricky to overcome.  If I shell out money, I want a copy I can give away or lend as many times as I want.  But then I started thinking, I pay $10 to see a movie once and I don't own it.  I can pay $10 for a reading experience and I do "kind of" own it because it's available to me for reading whenever I want.  I can't loan it out, but when I loan books I rarely get them back anyway.  If I ever read a book I truly love, I can always buy a physical copy if I feel I must.  If I really want someone else to experience reading a particular book, I could buy them a copy and still have my own copy on my Kindle.

It will become extinct at some point and the books I purchased will be useless...did anyone buy BETA instead of VHS back in the day?  You feel my fear.  What if I sink tons of money into buying books for my Kindle and 5 years from now it's an unsupported wasteland?  I guess it's possible.  But Amazon has been going strong for a long time now and I feel fairly confident that even if the Kindle device becomes obsolete, the content I have purchased which is stored on the Amazon website will be available to me with a new device.

After overcoming my "cons", I started taking a good look at the "pros."
Quick, easy access to almost any book I could ever desire
Convenient storage and take-along ability for all my reading material
Easy way to read borrowed books from the e-library and Kindle Lending Library
Easy to highlight, make notes, search for particular passages, look up words I don't know, etc
Lightweight, comfortable reading experience (better than holding an 800 page book)

And really it's fairly inexpensive.  So I bit the bullet, and I got one.
And so far, I'm absolutely loving it!

I got the touch screen because I am so used to the iPad I didn't think I could handle button pushing.  I got a nice case for it, downloaded a book (which is really good, BTW- Skeletons in the Zahara...a nonfiction account of sailors who wrecked in Africa in 1817 and survived a terrible ordeal) and have been happily reading ever since.

I know there are lots of Kindle users out there, so I welcome any helpful tips and advice about using it.
Happy reading!





2 comments:

Unknown said...

Welcome to the Kindle Club!

Rachel said...

I'm glad you like it!