[30Days]: E-Readers!

[seventhe]

I have a Kindle! I have been promising people (namely shanaqui, gosh, sorry) to talk about it, and I do want to talk about it, because I think it's pretty cool. But in typical Sev fashion, this is going to become a long and rambling post about reading, too, so that when I get to the (long and rambling) part about my e-reader you guys can better understand the context with which I come at it.

So!

ME, AND READING: A HISTORY.

I learned to read at some absurdly young age, like 2 or 3. I know this because I got my first pair of glasses at 3 (shut up) and my mother had to go through special testing/approval for me to GET glasses because I was too young to qualify for a "normal" vision test - the eye doctor didn't actually believe that I knew my letters. (The early reading also helped tip my parents off to the fact that I might need glasses in the first place, which was helpful.) Of course I don't remember it, but I know the timeline.

I'm told that it was actually a pretty obnoxious habit, because if there was anything around me, I would read it, to the tune of ignoring lots of the other things going on around me. Cereal boxes. List of ingredients. Receipts. Magazines. JCPenney ads. The newspaper. My mother's (adult) novels. If there were words, my eyes were on them, and my parents used to have to clean the whole table to get me to pay attention to things. I would stay up until bizarre hours of the night reading books. I ate books like food. I. Read. A. Lot.

I am also a fast reader. I have always been a fast reader. I can read a Dresden Files book in a couple of hours (given a couple of hours - a rare occurence, yes, which is why I usually take a few days overall to stumble through them). Often it backfires on me, because if I get excited about a book (which I do) I'll read it so fast I finish it almost too quickly, and then I'll end up going back and reading it a second time. (Speaking of Dresden books, I did this with Changes.)

Which brings up another point - I'm a re-reader. I know some people just don't believe in re-reading books: once you've read it, you know what happens, right? So why re-read it? Um. I've read Sunshine probably 50 times. I can quote parts of that book. And every time I read it, I enjoy it. Knowing what happens doesn't "ruin" a story for me; I can still enjoy the language, the characters, the tale itself.

Anyway. I read a lot when I was in school, growing up. But when I went to college, I stopped reading books so much for fun, for a couple reasons:

1. Chemical Engineering was a lot of work and had a pretty high workload attached to it. Free time was limited. When I did have it, I read some, but I also liked to go decompress or socialize or something.


2. I didn't have a car to get to a library, and I mentally associated the university's library with HOMEWORK and never really looked for reading material there (until senior year when I found out I'd been right and they didn't have a ton). And I was too broke to buy "FUN" books. Chemistry textbooks are fucking expensive, bro.


3. Our dorm rooms were TINY. I could barely fit all of my CLASS-RELATED textbooks into the room, let alone fun/recreational reading. I wish I were joking but I'm not, I looked it up once, they were some of the smallest dorm rooms basically ever.


4. Computers and the Internet were just getting big (remember I'm a bit older than most of you). There were a lot of new things to do online. Also, I discovered fanfiction.

And when I graduated and came to the real world, it was much the same. I had found a new and different combination of BUSY+LAZY which resulted in the same thing, not going to the library. I had money to buy some books if I wanted, but that required either (a) going to a store (see BUSY/LAZY OTP) or (b) trolling Amazon to find books I was interested in, which was hard. By not reading, I'd lost my knowledge of books and series and authors I would actually be interested in? If that makes sense.

Plus, again, I had fanfiction. And that sounds silly, but there are a lot of good authors out there (buried in mediocrity, yes, but they're there) and reading fanfic could at least satisfy my urges to read when I wasn't in the mood to go through Spindle's End for the 400th time. I was reading stories and learning about them and learning how to write, which is ALSO good. I had just abandoned books.


What I Like About My Kindle

So basically my Kindle was what got me reading again.

I had shown, in my life, a complete and terrible inability to get mine ass to a library in anything resembling a timely fashion. I had also shown that I didn't go to bookstores basically ever, and that I'd really only buy things off of [Amazon, or other online bookstore] if they were FORCEFULLY recommended to me by someone, and even then it was like fffff. I'll do it. Sometime. People sent me books, and I read them and flailed, but getting them myself? It was pretty. major. fail. The only time I would seriously read would be over the vacation/trips Jeff and I would take, and that would be me at the library, half-heartedly selecting a bunch of fantasy books I didn't recognizing and hoping the 7 or so I picked would be alright. Meh, I said.

And then I got a Kindle for Christmas!

For me, it is like MAGIC: BOOKS. ON DEMAND. WHEN I WANT THEM.

I have called this section "Things I Like About my Kindle" because that is exactly what I want to talk about, what I personally like about the Kindle.

I love that it is hooked up directly to a store, which is linked to my Amazon.com account and thus credit card, which means that all I have to do is search the store for a book, click "BUY", and the Kindle version will appear on the screen in a matter of seconds for my immediate enjoyment. I don't have to connect it to a computer and load books; it does that FOR me.

I love that Amazon offers a Kindle discount, because I think that's fair; I also like that some books are offered for free, although I haven't yet really dabbled in that.

I find my Kindle very readable. The smallest or second-smallest test will work for me in normal settings, and I find it no more obnoxious to press a "Next Page" button as I might to turn a page or scroll a mouse. Yes, I have taken it to the beach (in a case) and it was perfectly readable there, too. I've also had opportunity to use the larger test sizes, in two different sorts of settings - (a) when running on the treadmill at the gym, which makes close-object focusing difficult; and (b) when wearing my contact lenses, which means my eyes are not 100% corrected. (this will actually appear later in this meme, but my vision is kind of non-correctable with contacts; I can get anywhere from 60%-90% depending on the day, my blood sugar, and the light in the room.)

In both cases I found the larger test just as clear and readable as print, and I also really liked having one device that could switch text size (rather than buying a large-print book or something).

I haven't used this very much, but the Kindle also will connect to the internet - it's kind of hidden in my version, but I think newer versions make it more easily find-able? Either way, I was able to browse the AO3 for some Criminal Minds fanfic, on my Kindle, and that was pretty awesome.

I LOVE the fact that I can purchase a bajillion books onto it and it will NEVER take up any more space than it does in its nice neat leather case. Being as fast of a reader as I am, I seriously would take 7 books on a 1-week vacation: one for each day. And when you're pulling from the library, it means sometimes you have to take hardcovers, and then you lose that space in your suitcase. So for me, I love that I can stack all the books I might need onto the Kindle. If I run out, I can purchase another book, immediately. ADDITIONALLY, since it is connected to my Amazon.com account, people can buy books FOR ME and they'll appear on my Kindle. (People can buy me paperbacks, too, I don't mind; I'm just saying.)

It also helps the books/clutter around my house: I can buy paperback/hardcover copies of books I loved and want to have on hand (if I decide to spend additional money!) but I don't have a shelf full of "Books I Read That Were Meh."

The number of books I've read in 2010 is probably higher than the number of books I read from 2005-2009. This is directly related to the possession of my Kindle.


What I think about the Kindle in general or for others

I am thrilled with my Kindle! Personally, for me, it is a wicked awesome solution. However! I am not everyone. So I feel like I should address this!

The first thing that comes to mind is that you have to buy the books from Amazon. I'll split that up: you have to (a) buy the books (b) from Amazon. (a) is an issue for people who don't have the disposable income to buy all of their books; I'm admittedly lucky that I can afford to purchase a couple books a month if I so choose. Amazon does give a discount; normally it's about 20%: I've seen higher on some random books, but I don't know how they sort out that system.

And because it's an e-book, you can't then give it to a friend, or donate it to the library, or sell it at a book swap: that money is spent, and it's spent on the copy on your e-reader. I know not everyone has the privilege of disposable income.

It also means that by default you are supporting Amazon. I haven't been able to look into whether or not you can purchase or obtain books from other sources (sorry, shanaqui ._. ) -- I have not tried.

(In fact, I should put this here: I haven't tried to 'hack' my Kindle at all. All of the books on it have been legally purchased from Amazon.com; I haven't made any attempts to load other books on there, or direct it to other websites, or even to put my books on the computer or some other source. I kind of haven't had the time (or when I did I didn't think of my Kindle). I'm not much of a technology 'hacker' anyway; I use stuff mostly the way it was meant to be used like a boring old boringguy.)

(I've also never used any other brand of ereader, so I can't do a comparison of KINDLE VS [WHATEVER]; it was a gift, so I'm not even sure what process of elimination went into the choosing of it, sadly. I am an uninformed customer in those terms.)

The one downside that's saddest to me is that these are electronic copies of the book, so, like I said - you can't lend it to a friend if you read something amazing. You can't flip through the book until you get to THAT PART that you liked so much (or, you can, but you kind of have to electronically 'eyeball' the page number or chapter and then click a lot of 'next page' buttons). And that's a direct result of something I love about it - its small size and paper-saving ability - so I am conflicted.

I think its strength depends on the way that you read and get books, honestly. For someone like me, the advantages vastly outweigh the disadvantages. For someone who loves the library or can't afford the purchases, it probably would not work nearly as well. For someone who doesn't need portability, that entire side of it might not even register.


And some thoughts on e-readers as a whole

I like that e-readers exist. There, I said it. I like it. I do. I'm not sure if it means "print is dead" or "publishing is dead" or "Amazon will rule the world" or whatever - I am severely uninformed, ok? But I like that they exist.

I'm not sure why people might have an aversion to them, either; like I said, I'm not too informed, so if somehow I am cutting in on an author's cut of profits by using one, well, shame on me :( -- but you'd think with an electronic copy there's less paper/printing/other expense and an author might deserve a higher return, no? And it is still a thing that must be charged and plugged in, and for some people it will never replace an actual book - but I think that's okay?

(shanaqui mentioned her mother and vision; not only is this close to my own heart and my own limited eyesight, but we will probably buy a Kindle for my grandmother, whose vision is deteriorating. I love that she will still be able to read, which she loves, and that we can surprise her with new books any time we want to.)

Are they perfect? Of course not. Are they gimmicky? Maybe.

I love books, right, but I love stories, not just the physical paper incarnations of them. It's awesome that I can go home and download Robin McKinley's Pegasus or Bujold's Cryoburn (when they come out) and it will be there before I'm done with dinner. Maybe that's a true sign of my laziness, but I embrace it?

I hope no one ever tells me I'm a terrible person for having an e-reader (uh, if you were going to comment and say that, I guess you still can? it might make for an interesting experience!) - for me, personally, individually, it is definitely the thing that has had me return to the world of books and stories, and I'm not entirely sure how that is a bad thing.

This is part of my 30 Days of Posting meme - feel free to check out the schedule of posting and contribute if there are any spaces! DW || LJ

Comments

[crankyoldman]

I feel this way about the ereading capabilities on my iPhone. I have the kindle reader on it, but I also have three other ebook readers, because I am very much the FREE BOOKS type (and yes, I know, IT'S AN IPHONE, but I don't pay for it, work does XD I AM CHEAP).

I think the Kindle is perfect for certain types of people (like my mom!) who are not as good at seeking out things as I am.

Speaking of Cryoburn and Bujold in general, she is giving away ebook versions of all her books for free. Now I can read them all! They exist on my phone, RIGHT NOW.

But instant books have allowed me to read quicker (I have a tendency of reading during lunch breaks or on travel or ANYTIME I AM NOT JUST CHILLING AT HOME). And it lets me catch up on a shit ton of classics types books (WHICH ARE FREE USUALLY).

Only difference is Kindles have better screens. My screen isn't bad for the places I tend to read, so I can't complain.

[shanaqui]

Yay! Mum has answered some of my other questions about this -- you can use Calibre to manage it and put books onto it from your computer, for example.

Thank you~.

if they were FORCEFULLY recommended to me by someone, and even then it was like fffff. I'll do it. Sometime.

*forcefully recommending N.K. Jemisin's work. justsoyouknow*

[seventhe]

I am intrigued by this mention -- I would like a way to back up my books...!


*shifty eyes* HAHA. I shall get to it!

[shanaqui]

I'm not sure if that works -- I don't know if you can sort books you bought from amazon using Calibre. I think I'm going to play with Mum's Kindle this weekend: I'll let you know if I figure it out.

[lassarina]

Sev. Sev, have I told you about my single most favourite fantasy book ever? Because it is on the Kindle (I have just confirmed) and it is, no lie, my favourite book ever, full stop, and it is just as much my favourite now (I re-read it last year) as it was when I was 16, and if you read it then you and I and Cel can nerd about it. I'M JUST SAYING.

[seventhe]

UH I LIKE THIS IDEA. GIVE TO RADISKULL, PRONTO.

[lassarina]

Melanie Rawn, Dragon Prince. (There are five more books in the series and you can totally read those too, but this is the first one and it is far and away the best.)

Not gonna lie, this book totally shaped my preferences on pairings and dialogue and worlds and strong female characters and JUST GENERAL FUCKING AWESOME.

It is really long--my print version is 709 pages--but ffffff this book. THIS BOOK. Seriously like I can't even express my love for it without flailing FOREVER.

ALSO I ASSUME YOU HAVE READ THE GENTLEMAN BASTARD BOOKS but if you haven't, do it, main character is totes named after Locke from FF6.

[seventhe]

OH BECAUSE LONG MATTERS

WILL LOOK UP

[astrangerenters.livejournal.com]

I think e-readers are really neat, although I don't foresee myself getting one any time soon. Probably because I have such a backlog of books I haven't read that are sitting on my shelves. I do like the idea of portability, especially because big books take up a lot of space in my bag on the train. I had a long gap of not reading myself with college - but now that I take the train every day, I often use that time for pleasure reading.

We actually talked about e-readers briefly in library school - they were only starting to take off when I was about to graduate-ish. I think there's always going to be an audience for the printed word - and I don't think e-reader spells the end for the library either! I think that libraries shouldn't be afraid of e-readers - just adapt and find a way to buy the technology so they can rent them out. Again, the problem I see with that is deciding *what* books to pre-load on an e-reader that people can check out. But if libraries check out music and dvds, I think e-readers are the next evolution. I'm sure some wealthier public libraries are already doing this.

[first-seventhe.livejournal.com]

Yeah, the library issue is an interesting one -- I would love for there to be some kind of "renting" program for books - I'd even pay a small amount for it, to, I don't know, have a copy for 2 weeks and then 'return' it - but of course I don't know at all how that would work. I agree that they're not really going to be the end for print or for libraries, mainly because they at the moment revolve around the privilege of a disposable income.

[astrangerenters.livejournal.com]

Exactly. So long as it remains something that only people with $$$ can afford, I don't see libraries going everywhere. "Digital divide" was one of our big buzzwords in school. And I think that if libraries are allowed to license and loan out the technology, it could only boost sales for people looking to give e-readers a test drive. It all comes down to library funding in the end. I know a friend of mine works for a local public library and they were looking into getting iPads for patrons to check out.

I think so long as there's new technology, there's a need for people to explain how to get the most out of it. Hence my profession isn't going anywhere :)

[first-seventhe.livejournal.com]

You know, I think an e-reader (or iPad!) rental/checkout thing would be pretty neat. Going on a week-long trip? Get one and load it up, and then return it. Want to see if you use it? Check one out. There's a lot of technology I find interesting in a vague sense but don't think is worth my money in the long run (iPads and a lot of gaming systems fall into this category for me) and libraries wouldn't be a bad answer to stuff like that.

I STILL WISH YOU WORKED FOR US THOUGH

[irish-ais.livejournal.com]

As an FYI: the Howard County public library (in Maryland, so it's not everywhere, yet) actually loans out BN's Nook. But most public libraries HAVE ebook libraries to access that not as many people know of, so it's just like they don't even do it. There's not enough word of mouth.

[owlmoose.livejournal.com]

I could have pretty much written the first part of this, word-for-word. I read A LOT growing up, then less during college and especially grad school; now I go through phases where I read like mad and others where I hardly read (printed books) at all. And I'm also a big re-reader who brings way too many books on every trip, just in case!

The main thing that has kept me from going the e-reader route is the feeling that I wouldn't really own the books I buy. I can't, as you say, lend them to a friend or sell them back on the used market -- and I buy a lot of my books used, too -- and many ebook formats are device specific: you can't transfer your Kindle book to your Sony Reader or your Nook or your iPad. You have to pick one format and stick with it, or you have to spend a lot of money rebuilding your library if you switch.

The issue of libraries is an interesting one, because some ebooks have a license attached that say you can't lend them, and at least one major publishing organization recently declared that libraries should not be lending ebooks on the current standard licenses. I hope a better compromise is worked out, and soon.

[first-seventhe.livejournal.com]

The 'ownership' of the books is an interesting issue, too. There's a copy on my Kindle that I can access any time I have the Kindle (just like I could access the physical book any time I was near my bookshelf), and Amazon saves a copy of books you've purchased that you can "restore" in case of errors or reformats (I had to do this once in an airport, where a purchase went screwy), which is nice. But it isn't like owning a physical book, and I'll admit I understand that feels "not worth the money" in a lot of ways.

And yeah, like I said to Jamie above, it'll be really interesting to see what they do with libraries and how libraries manage the issue. There's a lot of potential and also a lot of weird grey areas, and I certainly don't have any answers!

[divka.livejournal.com]

Interesting. I have two hold-ups that keep me from considering an e-reader. The first is my concern about proprietary formats and not being able to read my book I purchased anywhere off said e-reader. Your point is well taken about the fact that not all books are really books worth reading more than once and that alleviates some of that issue.

My other hold-up is that it would be one more electronic device I need to remember to charge. I'm notoriously bad at recharging things. What is the battery life like on these things?

BATTERIES

[first-seventhe.livejournal.com]

WOW, I don't believe I forgot to address battery life! >.>

The battery life on my Kindle is pretty good. If you leave the wireless connection on, you're limited to maybe a day of on-and-off reading. If you remember to turn the wireless off, it will last for days without a recharge. I've used mine for over a week (although that was with a few hours of reading here and there every day, not a week constantly) without having to recharge. I remember being suitably impressed by its lifetime.

Reading books off of the e-reader doesn't bother me as much mainly because I think of the e-reader as a book itself - it's like having the book in my hand. But the proprietary issues are interesting: I do wish I could transfer the books to my computer, or something like.

[drakonlily.livejournal.com]

I have been debating a nook, but I just LOVE books so so much. Though I think for mom it'd be great cause she can take it with her when her and her boyfriend go sailing and she can have all her books with her.

Hrm.

Oh E Reader

[irish-ais.livejournal.com]

Well, I was gonna say that you were a terrible person for having a Kindle rather than a nook, but I suppose I can't convert everyone to TOUCH SCREEN MAGIC.

Kindle'll do PDF and...word? Text? Something. I can't remember. Not as good side-loaded, though, apparently; one of the girls I work with has a Kindle and she just loathes the way it does PDF.

Although, I am pissed that Sunshine seems to not be in e-book anywhere.

As far as "print is dead," I say that's not going to be the case. I prefer regular books to e-books, but then again, like you said, e-books take up a hell of a lot less space for traveling. You have no idea how many people YELL AT ME when they come into BN because nook is everywhere. I get YELLED AT. ABOUT MAKING BOOKS ACCESSIBLE FOR EVERYONE. WHAT.

Sev, basically, I still love you even though you have a Kindle, and you should download everything John Green onto it right now.

[safety-caesars.livejournal.com]

YOU'RE A TERRIBLE PERSON FOR HAVING AN E-READER. THERE, I SAID IT.

Lol they seem pretty cool! My couchsurfing host in Norway showed me a Kindle and that's the only time I've really seen one so far. She thought it was bitchin' for textbooks too; though her complaint was because it's not in color she couldn't use it for textbooks with graphs etc. THAT IS MY KINDLE STORY, I THOUGHT I'D SHARE.

ALSO I READ REALLY SLOW. I AM JEALOUS OF YOUR FAST READING SKILLS XD I used to read like crazy when I was young too, but I guess I was never that fast at reading. I kinda have to read it in real-time; like I say every word out in my head. If I want to try to skim I can and just read visually for a bit, but I don't like doing this when I'm reading for pleasure cuz I basically miss the entire story ^^ (This technique was reserved for reading for school, lol.)

THEN AGAIN, YOU WITNESSED MY ILLITERACY THIS WEEKEND WITH THE CEILING CAKE LYRICS

[first-seventhe.livejournal.com]

AH BUT CEILING CAKE IS A MASTERPIECE, DO NOT MOCK IT

[safety-caesars.livejournal.com]

OF COURSE IT IS! I JUST CAN'T READ SHIT THAT'S IN FRONT OF MY FACE EYES XDD

[first-seventhe.livejournal.com]

WELL I HAD TO ASK ABOUT THE LINE "MORE DEAD ENDS" BECAUSE I DISCOVERED I HAD BEEN SINGING A NONSENSE WORD INSTEAD OF ACTUAL ENGLISH SO...

WHATEV

[jennyclarinet.livejournal.com]

I'm enjoying reading these posts so far. No time to read the massive amount of comments though.

Also, I replaced my Spongebob icon. :)

[bookblather.livejournal.com]

This is actually a really convincing essay in favor of the Kindle, and if I was not poor, I would probably be seriously considering buying one right now, because you and I have almost identical reading habits, except I love the library like candy because they enable me and they love me there.

Oh, also, btw, Cryoburn at least is out. I have my brand-new hardcover copy sitting next to me right now.