Have you ever made a podcast? I listen to them all the time, every day while I’m at the gym or in the car. It’s a great way to take in information and I find a really good podcast can bear repeating because each time I hear it a different part of my brain seems to be listening.
I’m planning to start making podcasts for theBookDesigner.com but I’ve been pretty disappointed with the sound quality of my experiments so I headed over to Best Buy to find a replacement.
Sometimes You Find What You Weren’t Looking For
Here’s something you may not know: Best Buy doesn’t sell microphones. A friendly floor-walker there suggested Radio Shack or the local music store. On my way out, grumbling over a wasted trip, I stopped to have a go at the Sony Reader display.
The basic model, the Sony Reader Pocket Edition was fully operational and I spent some time moving through the menus and loading up texts. I have to say that the liquid paper screen technology these e-readers use is quite good, giving a readable surface without any glare or backlight that wears on the eyes after a while.
Other than that, and the efficiency of being able to carry “hundreds of books” on you all the time—none of the ads for these readers can supply any credible reason why someone would want to walk around with an entire library in their pocket—I just can’t see why these things are popular.
You Call This Reading?
Forget for a minute that even the stripped down model is two hundred dollars. Scrolling through the menus was anything but smooth. Page “turns” caused the unit to do that “LCD flash” thing each time, which disturbs the restful state you had been in from reading the page you just finished.
Except for title pages and the odd decorative element the pages are bleak, the type faces choppy, the justification awkward, the sizes boringly the same. All in all, not really a pleasant experience.
Even a mass-produced printed book is a far superior experience. What’s more, it is likely to transmit the author’s thoughts and expression far more effectively than the experience you have—moderated by still-primitive technology—with an e-reader.
Is This The Future? Don’t Close the Paper Mills!
Maybe this is the future of books, when all the trees will be saved from the paper mills but we’ll be consigned to a world of flat and lifeless e-readers. Of course this technology will continue to improve and, for a while at least, the printed book will be the model on which the e-readers are based, and against which they’ll be judged.
But I’m not looking forward to it. How about you? Are you a Kindle-lover? An e-reader enthusiast? Why? I’m curious.
{ 10 comments… read them below or add one }
Yeah! I am a technology fan… a big fan… but I do not love e-readers, not yet.
I’m sure they are the future of content distribution, but I hope it is a long time before they replace pbooks. I enjoy reading paper and so far, the ereaders are not a suitable replacement.
I do most of my reading on transit. I’m also downloading e-books from the net more and more (not pirated–either free or I buy them). I bought a Sony eReader a few days ago so I can read those books when I’m on transit. Otherwise I’ll never get to them. Many freebies aren’t available in print, so it’s the e-book or nothing.
@Sarah,
It does seem to make sense on transit, I mean, how many books could you carry? And I like the idea of freebies!
I’m curious, though. When you’re at home, do you reach for the Sony or for a “book”?
@AM, I can see the readers as a great solution for students who have to carry expensive, heavy, hard to update textbooks. Now that sounds like a good idea, otherwise, I’m not convinced yet!
I haven’t had the eReader long enough to say for sure, but I strongly suspect that I’ll reach for a book. If a book is only available as an e-book and I’m at home, I’ll read it on my computer (larger screen). I see e-book readers as an “on the go” gadget, at least for me.
Who on earth wouldn’t want to walk around with an entire library in their pocket?
I love anything that will put the words in front of me. I love books — I have a house full of them, including some really beautiful antiques. But when I’m reading, it’s all about the words, and I barely notice the format. I’ve been reading the classics for years in vanilla text on a backlit computer screen and enjoyed every word.
I just checked, and of course you’re right. There is an LCD flash thing going on every time I change the page on my eReader. I’ve had it since January, and never noticed until now. It would take a lot more than that
to break my concentration.
So, you see — different strokes for different folks. If I were a book designer rather than a writer, I’d feel quite differently.
But the short answer is, I think eReaders are the greatest thing since Gutenberg’s press, and unlike books, they’re just going to keep getting better!
Wendy,
It’s interesting to look at this piece after almost 2 years. e-Books and e-book readers have come a very long way since then and, although I don’t read many books on e-readers, they have become an intrinsic and growing part of the publishing world, and it looks like they are here to stay. Thanks for your perspective.
One reason where having a whole library, or at least a whole lot of books, in compact form would be if you like reading on your holiday. Saves lots of space and weight in your luggage.
I got an ereader mostly because I noticed I’d almost stopped buying new books for the simple reason that I’m running out of room for them, but I found it actually more pleasant to read on that than on paper. It’s very comfortable to only hold the reader, compared to having to hold a book open to keep it from flapping shut. And neither do I have to look half-sideways at a bent page, or worry about cracked spines. That made up for the relatively dark background and ever so slightly slightly pixeliated type.
I’m not sure what you mean by LCD-flash, particularly since you were talking about an eink reader, but that may be because I’ve got a later model, at least if the image is accurate.
I agree with the previous commenter: It’s really more about the content, for novels. Coffee table books, or anything else with a lot of illustrations, I agree works better in print, but for straight text it doesn’t matter to me. It’s about the story.
I read a lot of your articles as I get them on twitter. For me, the only thing I’d truly miss if print books went out is the ‘feel’ of the pages and maybe the scent. But for me, a book is a book, regardless of the format. For 3 years I read fanfic on the net while reading paper books. I love stories, period. The kindle thing isn’t an insult to the paper books in my mind. More a interesting development. I barely notice the big flash myself.
I enjoy both. I like that i can make the print bigger. Some print books, the print is small and crammed on the page. Not fun at all. I enjoy both. But for a book I love, I’d rather have print. But it doesn’t seems to detract from enjoying the story.