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Frank Delaney
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In computer news this week 07/09/2008
It just doesn’t “kindle”
my interest – Amazon’s New Wireless Reading Device named Kindle
I caught the Morning Edition piece yesterday on Amazon’s
new electronic book which they named Kindle as I was on my way to an
appointment, and it reminded me of some early attempts I’ve made to
like electronic books and give up my love for real books.
Ever since I was a young boy I have loved books
and reading. I went to school a
few years on the East Coast in Portland, Maine, the home of the famous poet
and author Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, and we of course had to memorize some
of his poems like the Children’s
Hour and the Village
blacksmith.
One of the biggest thrills of my life was when I
was old enough to have my own library card, and I can remember taking my
wagon with me to the library to carry them all home. Both my parents were
educators and had a lot of books, and to this day I have hundreds of books,
some dating back as far as 1796, and some collections of my favorite authors,
like all the works of John Steinbeck. I have 3 bookcases filled with books,
and many I have read dozens of times; so many time that the memories are
worn, as John Prine says in one of his lyrics.
The introduction of Amazon’s electronic book
– Sony has one too - kind of reminds me of Microsoft’s introduction
of cd-rom technology probably back in the
1980’s. Despite their
hyping it, and even publishing a Microsoft booked named “CDROM –
The New Papyrus”, it took years for cdrom drives in pc’s to catch
on, but of course today you couldn’t image a pc without one.
Amazon’s Kindle is about the size and weight
of a book, 10 ounces, but the screen looks like one of the early word
processor screens from back in the ’70s
– black and white only. It’s
pricey, around $ 400, but you’re paying for technology and maybe
bragging rights related to those who always have to have the latest high tech
toy.
It is a true computer device, rechargeable battery
which lets you read for a week, with built-in capability of accessing the
internet and downloading thousands of E-books that are out there now, and it
has the internal storage to store about 200 novels at once.
It seems the price of downloading an Ebook is
around $ 10 which seems a little steep to me, for a digital book. It also is
an mp3 player and has limited monochrome graphics capability. When you read the term
“etch-a-sketch like” in a review, you know the graphics need
tweaking.
Several years ago I tried downloading ebooks to my
portable computer, and trying to read them at night. Usually I read small
paperbacks before I fall asleep, and they either fall on the floor or hit me
in the face. Do not try this with
a portable computer.
The Kindle kind of reminds me of MP3 players that
you can download thousands of tunes to, and have so
many tunes on a device that you could never listen to them all. I’d
rather put a cd in my stereo, or listen to the radio.
And despite the lukewarm reviews of the Kindle,
I’ll take a paperback book anytime.
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