Welcome to the 21st Century 1-4-10
We’re all set for 2010! This Christmas I got the answer to the so-called $64,000 dollar question (well, the $259.00 question at least. A few years ago, Amazon came out with the Kindle e-book reader to huge success. There have been a couple of improvements to the Kindle since and now Barnes and Noble, Sony and others are putting out their own e-book readers and the market is getting quite competitive. Because of this program, I usually don’t have any trouble getting a copy of the books we talk about on the show, but getting a hold of a Kindle was another matter. The waiting list for for media “loaners” is very long.
My family gave me Kindle for Christmas in preparation for our family vacation. There are several free books that can be put on the Kindle that are in the public domain. Most other books retail for around $10.00. There are several titles that are not available from Kindle, since their publishers are putting them on other electronic readers. Some authors resist to having e-book versions. J.K. Rowling is the most notable.
The Kindle has been touted as an easy reading experience and it was far easier than I expected. The screen is not backlit, so you can’t hurt your eyes from it. It has an adjustable type feature that is very helpful. It only takes seconds to download a book. The Kindle remembers where you left off whenever you turn it off or switch to another book. You can save hundreds of books without having to delete any.
Another great feature is the text to speech. Not all books have this enabled, but those that do give the reader the option of having the Kindle read the book to them from a generic male or female voice. The female sounds more computerized. The reading speed is variable. There are many other features that make the Kindle an outstanding tool. For me, the greatest one is that I can carry books that are hundreds of pages in a device no thicker than a pencil.
The Kindle and other e-readers are something book lovers will be wrestling with for the next century and perhaps beyond. We’ll talk more about that tomorrow.