Jan
04
2010
Kindling
I was an early adopter of Amazon’s Kindle. I loved it for a couple of months and then fell out of love with it, kind of like the dog my parents got me when I was a kid. At first having a dog was a lot of fun and I loved having him tow me around the yard in the winter. I even enjoyed walking him for the first week or two. But then he showed his true colors–he made a mess of the yard and ate a few cats and just generally misbehaved and suddenly all I could see was his flaws. Eventually mom and dad gave him away. They told me they had given him to a family that had a mentally challenged son and who lived on a farm where the dog could run and run, tongue lolling out, eyes bright, just the way a dog ought to be. In retrospect that sounds like the kind of thing parents say when they’ve really dropped the dog off in the middle of the countryside to fend for himself. I should ask them about that sometime. Or not.
But I digress. I loved my Kindle at first. It was like so many other new technologies–it wowed me with all its great new features. I saw all the joy but little of the pain. But then I got used to it and couldn’t see past its obvious flaws. It was slow; it was ugly; I kept wanting to write all over the screen with my ever-present highlighters; it was not good for doing serious reading. In the end I traded it to a friend for a stack of commentaries. We both thought it was a good deal. Last I heard my buddy was still in love with it.
But now there is a Kindle 2. I had Amazon send one to me while I was in Atlanta last week. I justified purchasing it on two grounds. First, it is significantly cheaper than its predecessor. Second, Amazon worked out many of the flaws (like the way-too-long page-turn times and the oops-I-touched-the-side-and-it-turned-a-page flaw). Third (oh wait, I said two) it will pay for itself very quickly with all the bestsellers being only $9.99 (compared to $20-$30 at the local bookstore). And fourth, it now offers Whispernet service in Canada (though it carries a $2 surcharge, much to my chagrin). And just think how much room we’ll save in the house without all those books demanding shelf space. Overall, the 10MillionWords project offered me good reason and good justification to turn back to Kindle.
Overall, the Kindle 2 seems significantly improved from the first generation. It’s thinner, lighter, snazzier and faster. Heck, it even stays in its folder now, thanks to some handy little clips (I always thought the idea of trusting in gravity to keep a $400 machine in a leather folder was quite a weakness of the Kindle 1). Of course there are a few downsides, such as a still-awful keyboard and an Apple-style battery that can only be replaced by Amazon. It is not a thing of beauty and is not half the machine it will be in a few years, I’m sure. But it is beginning to show a bit of the promise we hoped for it from the beginning. Still, there’s probably a 50/50 chance that in six months I’ll be several commentaries richer and one Kindle poorer. Especially if Apple wows me with the long-awaited tablet.
18 Comments
I’m just not getting the whole Kindle craze. Ebooks have been around for 10 years, yet they’ve never replaced the real thing. The thing has been around for a couple of years, but it appears that this Christmas it’s the thing to have.
How does it feel when you’ve read a book on it? I would feel like I hadn’t really “read” the book, if you know what I mean.
I love my Kindle 2! As we prepare to move to Sweden, it will be a huge tool to purchase books so easily and much cheaper. I have also found that I can read a book about 30% faster and using the keyboard to type notes is a better option than my chicken scratch. The feature to sync my highlights and notes from each book to my computer will also be very beneficial for teaching and ministry.
Michael – It is definitely a different reading experience. But one grows used to it. I still much prefer the old-fashioned experience of holding a “real” book in my hands. I would imagine that I’ll do plenty of both as the year progresses.
One thing I find strange is to always have an exact measure of where I am in a book. At the bottom left of the screen is a counter that reads, for example, 33%. When I turn a page it will increment to 34%. It’s quite strange but it does push me to keep reading just to see that silly little counter get higher and higher!
Tim,
I bought a Kindle2 a few months ago. I thought I would love it, but I didn’t. I loved the cheaper prices for books, but found hardly ever used it. I think Amazon needs to make improvements before I would be tempted to purchase another one.
I too am anxiously awaiting the rumored tablet – hope it will be part of the announcement that Apple is supposed to make the end of this month.
I’ve had my Kindle2 since March and still love the thing. I had always carried a book with me wherever I went and now I can carry a whole library. Reading is reading not the feel of flipping pages to me. If I want I can get samples of books I think I might be interested in rather than buying (as I have in the past) and not really being interested in the book after getting it. I have shelves of books to prove that isn’t always the best way. I did quite a lot of research & read the reviews (including yours) when I purchased it was a big expense for me and I wanted to make sure I would use and enjoy it. I like that there are lots of free books and have read several that I’m sure I wouldn’t have purchased. Plus the ability to have a book in under a minute, versus the shipping charges and week delivery!
Thanks for sharing your thoughts on the Kindle. I’ve wondered if I would like it as well. I know I wouldn’t want it for books I want to use in research or study, but I wondered if it would be sufficient to do ‘light’ reading such as fiction or non-fiction I’m not wanting to read for serious study. It would be nice to have several books available for travel or waiting in line (seems there are lines everywhere!)… I just love reading so much I am still afraid I might not like it!
Thanks for your thoughts on the Kindle. I want one, but not enough to pay the large price tag.
I’m a very active library patron these days! Haven’t bought a new book in months…
My only fear is that the pages won’t turn fast enough for me. I read very quickly and I can turn pages in a book without really noticing the break in reading. If the Kindle is slow, that would probably drive me up the wall.
I know I wouldn’t want it for books I want to use in research or study, but I wondered if it would be sufficient to do ‘light’ reading such as fiction or non-fiction I’m not wanting to read for serious study.
Absolutely. I find it ideal for that purpose. It is the heavy reading where I far prefer “real” books.
I LOVE my Kindle! I’ve read more since I got it in May than I have in years. I’m currently carrying around 100 or so books and I’ve only paid for about 1/3 of them. I’ve downloaded many free from the Amazon bookstore and not one of them is a public domain book. It’s more than paid for itself and I have the convenience of reading my book of choice in about a minute. I haven’t read a DTB since I got it.
What do you think about the Barnes and Noble Nook, which I hear has a considerable larger selection of books to download?
I would like to know others views on the Nook as well! It seems it will offer some ‘extras’ while in a Barnes and Noble too.
James,
The Nook’s claim of a “greater selection” of books include a large amount of public domain texted culled from Google; B&N has not disclosed just how many of their books are public domain.
At the end of the day, B&N and Amazon have very similar book selection, especially when it comes to recent releases. I cast my lot with Amazon (purchased a Kindle 2 last summer) and I’ve been quite pleased with both the device and Amazon’s customer service.
I have been going back and forth on whether to buy a kindle-dx, in part for the ability to increase the font size since my poor eyes can no longer read small print easily.
But I’d like to ask you: how is the kindle for reading for long periods, say getting lost in a good book for a few hours? Is it easy on the eyes? Is the reading experience similar to the pleasant immersion in a regular book?
Suzanne – You can increase font size on the regular Kindle, too. To answer your question, I’ve never found it a problem to spend hours reading and to get lost in a book while using Kindle. It is still a different experience from turning paper pages, but not so different that it cannot be immersive.
As for the Nook, it is not available in Canada so I have not yet been able to try one out. Al Mohler has promised a review so maybe I’ll link to that when he has it ready to go.
I like my Kindle2, but don’t use it as much as I would like — mostly because most of the books I read are sent to me by publishers.
But yes, especially for this project, the savings in the price of books will definitely make it worth your while.
I actually love reading on it. It’s so light and easy to hold, unlike a “real” book. I agree about the highlighting issue, and I’m trying to read Unpacking Forgiveness on mine now (recommended by you), and I do usually mark up my Christian discipleship type of books, so I’m having to get used to using the highlight feature on the Kindle, which I actually think I might like more, since I can type in notes.
I have a question: does the Kindle make cataloging quotes easier? I would love to be able to export highlighted portions of books into searchable databases, but I’ve heard, not confirmed, the Kindle limits the amount of text one can export.
Brian, the limiting of exporting text via highlights is publisher-dependent: for some publishers, you can’t view highlighted text on the kindle.amazon web mirror of Kindle notes and highlights or in the My Clippings txt file on the Kindle. However, I have only seen this happen with one book that I purchased from Amazon (somewhat ironically, it was Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale).
still can’t use your highlighters though…