I never thought I'd say this because I swore I'd never use a Kindle...until I got one for Christmas (thanks Grandma!). I'm about 80 percent through my first book (it's a long one) on my Kindle, and I effing love it. It does kinda suck not to be able to manually flip back and forth if you need to, but that's a small price to pay for a capacity of over 100,000 books, and infinitely more downloadable from Amazon at any time. I'm a Kindle convert.
I'm split on this one. I think they're pretty convenient but until people are taking them to the beach or into the bathtub or whatever, the printed page is safe. We talk about stuff like this in libraries all the time. . .
Beth: What are libraries saying about the Kindle? (And the Nook - is that what it's called?) Are there predictions about libraries and book stores becoming obsolete?
Oh and my answer: I never thought I would be interested in the idea of a Kindle but I recently tried one out and it was pretty cool. (They're pretty comfortable to hold - something I was concerned about because I like to curl up with a book.) Plus I like that it tells you what percentage of the book you've read. I'm intrigued and I'm a bit of a gadget geek. I may consider getting one after I get the Roomba that claims to pick up dog hair. (Awesome!)
Oh and to Beth's point about the beach - I read the Twilight series in the water in Hawaii this summer and I didn't care terribly when a wave crashed on me and the book. Couldn't do that with a Kindle.
Anything that gets more people to read cannot be the downfall of literature. The entire point of the Kindle is to encourage carrying many different books at the same time. It's the iPod of books.
Did we talk about the iPod (or mp3 players in general) as the downfall of music? (from the perspective of no longer purchasing physical CD / LP / Tape copies of music) I forget honestly, I know we talked about piracy back then but nobody seemed to care if we no longer bough CDs.
So are we buying the paper or the authors words and ideas? I say the latter. Also they make waterproof cases for the kindle. ;-)
And the Twilight series has more cause to be called the downfall of literature.
I got myself a Nook (from Barnes and Noble) for xmas and so far I love it. While I was at home for X-mas in Chicago, I borrowed a book from the DC public library and loaded it to my Nook, which was pretty cool. I got it partly so I might actually start using the library instead of buying books, but also because I have way too much shit in my apartment and even for the books I buy, I'd prefer not to add to the amount of stuff I'll have to pack next time I move. Plus I got a pretty red leather cover for my Nook, so it looks like some kind of fancy journal :). I like anything I can accessorize.
I'm sure the kindle is a great invention, and there are plenty of other reasons for the downfall of literature. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to watch a montage of people getting hit in the nuts on youtube.
i don't think kindles will be the downfall of literature.
just thinking how the process of writing has evolved through the creation of the typewriter and then the computer, and now not just word processors but the internets as well... technology hasn't made us lose the ability to tell a story nor has it prevented us from immersing ourselves in a story.
Not so much from an academic library standpoint, but from a public library standpoint there's no way the printed book is going anywhere. It's a matter of 1: a lot people won't have the money to buy a Kindle or a Nook, and libraries need to support these people and 2: it will be more cost efficient for libraries to supply these populations with printed books as opposed to both software (Kindle) and information (downloaded books). Very few libraries willingly supply their patrons with ipods or laptops or whatever now, so I don't think the Kindle will be any different. At least for a long time.
Sidenote: I apologize for the library talk. I really try not to talk about my job so much because I realize no one else is as interested in information seeking behaviors as I am.
I definitely agree with Chris, but obsolete in the same way that Sony Walkman's became obsolete... You can still buy the "Walkman" but now it's an MP3 player.
Essentially, with each iteration of E-Ink (non glare, low battery consumption display devices) we'll see a new version of the Kindle & other e-readers.
Kindle 3 will have a touch screen.
Kindle 4 will be in color.
(things like that)
Unless you see a drastic breakthrough in battery technology that allows LCDs to last for days instead of hours. Lets face it, if the Kindle needed to be charged every 7 hours, and had eye strain, nobody would use it.
15 comments:
I never thought I'd say this because I swore I'd never use a Kindle...until I got one for Christmas (thanks Grandma!). I'm about 80 percent through my first book (it's a long one) on my Kindle, and I effing love it. It does kinda suck not to be able to manually flip back and forth if you need to, but that's a small price to pay for a capacity of over 100,000 books, and infinitely more downloadable from Amazon at any time. I'm a Kindle convert.
Yes, the Kool-Aid was delicious, thank you.
I'm split on this one. I think they're pretty convenient but until people are taking them to the beach or into the bathtub or whatever, the printed page is safe. We talk about stuff like this in libraries all the time. . .
It'll help keep literature relevant to future generations. On a related note, the internet really is the downfall of the newspaper as we knew it.
Beth: What are libraries saying about the Kindle? (And the Nook - is that what it's called?) Are there predictions about libraries and book stores becoming obsolete?
I've never used a Kindle, but I do love the smell of old books.
Oh and my answer: I never thought I would be interested in the idea of a Kindle but I recently tried one out and it was pretty cool. (They're pretty comfortable to hold - something I was concerned about because I like to curl up with a book.) Plus I like that it tells you what percentage of the book you've read. I'm intrigued and I'm a bit of a gadget geek. I may consider getting one after I get the Roomba that claims to pick up dog hair. (Awesome!)
Oh and to Beth's point about the beach - I read the Twilight series in the water in Hawaii this summer and I didn't care terribly when a wave crashed on me and the book. Couldn't do that with a Kindle.
It's getting people to read. It is the downfall of publishing. Although, it hasn't gotten me to read. Oh well.
Anything that gets more people to read cannot be the downfall of literature. The entire point of the Kindle is to encourage carrying many different books at the same time. It's the iPod of books.
Did we talk about the iPod (or mp3 players in general) as the downfall of music? (from the perspective of no longer purchasing physical CD / LP / Tape copies of music) I forget honestly, I know we talked about piracy back then but nobody seemed to care if we no longer bough CDs.
So are we buying the paper or the authors words and ideas? I say the latter. Also they make waterproof cases for the kindle. ;-)
And the Twilight series has more cause to be called the downfall of literature.
I got myself a Nook (from Barnes and Noble) for xmas and so far I love it. While I was at home for X-mas in Chicago, I borrowed a book from the DC public library and loaded it to my Nook, which was pretty cool. I got it partly so I might actually start using the library instead of buying books, but also because I have way too much shit in my apartment and even for the books I buy, I'd prefer not to add to the amount of stuff I'll have to pack next time I move. Plus I got a pretty red leather cover for my Nook, so it looks like some kind of fancy journal :). I like anything I can accessorize.
I'm sure the kindle is a great invention, and there are plenty of other reasons for the downfall of literature. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to watch a montage of people getting hit in the nuts on youtube.
DOWNFALL!!! But I would consider getting one to read the washington
post and nytimes on the train each morning.
i don't think kindles will be the downfall of literature.
just thinking how the process of writing has evolved through the creation of the typewriter and then the computer, and now not just word processors but the internets as well... technology hasn't made us lose the ability to tell a story nor has it prevented us from immersing ourselves in a story.
Not so much from an academic library standpoint, but from a public library standpoint there's no way the printed book is going anywhere. It's a matter of 1: a lot people won't have the money to buy a Kindle or a Nook, and libraries need to support these people and 2: it will be more cost efficient for libraries to supply these populations with printed books as opposed to both software (Kindle) and information (downloaded books). Very few libraries willingly supply their patrons with ipods or laptops or whatever now, so I don't think the Kindle will be any different. At least for a long time.
Sidenote: I apologize for the library talk. I really try not to talk about my job so much because I realize no one else is as interested in information seeking behaviors as I am.
Kindle and other readers are the 8-track of the generation. They will be obsolete before you know it....
I definitely agree with Chris, but obsolete in the same way that Sony Walkman's became obsolete... You can still buy the "Walkman" but now it's an MP3 player.
Essentially, with each iteration of E-Ink (non glare, low battery consumption display devices) we'll see a new version of the Kindle & other e-readers.
Kindle 3 will have a touch screen.
Kindle 4 will be in color.
(things like that)
Unless you see a drastic breakthrough in battery technology that allows LCDs to last for days instead of hours. Lets face it, if the Kindle needed to be charged every 7 hours, and had eye strain, nobody would use it.
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