The best part….

The built in Kindle!!!

I know I have always argued on here that I don’t completely get the ebook thing.   Obviously I just needed one.  Having it in my phone is the best thing ever. The convience factor is what really has me impressed.  I just recently started working at a dance club and at the end of the night, I have to wait around for a while to get paid.  No big deal but it is a bit boring.  Well problem solved.  The other day I busted out my phone and started in on reading Divine Beginnings which by the way is only in ebook format.  Yes, I’m totally the nerdy girl sitting in one of the hottest clubs in Portland reading but whatever.

I was always excited to see what books they offer for free.  There is a lot of classics that I have never read that are available for free.  For example, I downloaded The Scarlet Letter.  Again, this is a plus for me because I can make sure to always have something on my phone to read for those times when I’m sitting around after work.

So overall review is that I love having the Kindle on my phone but I still am reluctant to actually buy one.  I could however see myself getting one if the cost went down or something like that.

Sorry I still haven’t gotten the post about Rhiannon up.  Soon, I promise.

          Give something away free and if it is good enough, people will want more.  This is such an easy concept that we see all over the place.  A month free trial period of tv channels, free lipstick samples, free song downloads…this list could go on a long time.  When I came across this article talking about the benefits to an author/publisher for giving away a book, it definately made complete sense. 

          One fundamental part of the arguement was that reading one book will lead to buying others.  Sure you can say that maybe the person wouldn’t like the book and therefore not spend money but I think that in most cases that wouldn’t be true.  Why would you download a book that you weren’t into at all in the first place?  Personally, I tend to get stuck on different authors until I have read all their works or quite a few of them.  This idea works even better when you take series into consideration. If the story and characters lure you in, you will want more.

          I really do think this is a great idea but one flaw is that this  would not work well with brand new authors.  If you only have one book out there is going to be nothing else for people to buy.  I’m making an assumption here but if you are a digital book reading kind of person, you probably wouldn’t go buy the physical book after downloading a free digital copy. 

          Overall though, I think this is a very interesting story because it highlights how digital can help the physical world.   It was something that I hadn’t really considered before.  I think if I was an author in the position to do something like this, I would.   Actually I would be more inclined to do something like dollar downloads and giving all the money to the humane society.   Someone should get all over that idea. Please steal that one from me.

          So here we are in 2010.  Technology seems to be the ‘it’ topic right now.  From tons of sources lately I have heard things like, don’t buy external hard drives, back up online, no more cds and dvds, everything needs to be digital, and of course, move over paper books, e-books are here. 

          This article I found was interesting because it made some really interesting points about these changes.  It brings up a very good point that there is a huge advantage of paper books vs e-books.  Much bigger than cds and dvds.  I still am all about buying mine but I get why people don’t.  I still feel better about buying physical cds because it feels more like supporting tons of people.  For one example, I sorta dated a kid that was a photographer and did album layouts.  I love seeing his work and actually having it verses seeing it on a screen.  Sorry, I’m getting off topic.  I get distracted when talking about music because I’m so passionate about everything that involves it.

          Anyways, this article reminded me of a point that was made in the book Dewey by Vicki Myron.  “Books have survived television, readio, talking pictures, circulars (early magazines), dailies (early newspapers), Punch and Judy shows, and Shakespeare’s plays.  They have survived World War II, the Hundred Years’ War, the Black Death, and the fall of the Roman Empire.  They even survived the Dark Ages, when almost no one could read and each book had to be copied by hand.  They aren’t going to be killed off by the Internet.”

          I fell in love with this paragraph when I read it.  Myron is making such a true point.  Books are not going anywhere.  Maybe e-books might have their place but they are not going to replace the real thing. 

          Plus come one, is there anything better than curling up with a good book.  A cold digital device is never going to have that feeling.  It is the romance of reading a book on the beach or by the fire,  the adventure of having a book to thumb through when you are on vacation, the prestige of sitting in a coffee shop reading an intellectual books, it is having bookshelfs full of books that you take pride in knowing that you have read; those are a few things that make a book special.  Technology is great (I make a living off it) but some things are perfect as they are.

          So I happen to work at T-Mobile currently.  In the past I have worked for Verizon, AT&T/Cingular, and Sprint.  I tend to know what’s what in the cellular world so this news caught my attention today.  Today AT&T announced that they will carry an electonical reading device next year.  Hmm, sounds like Kindle, which uses Sprint signal, might have some competition.

          First off, this device is aimed for people wanting to be able to read documents in a better format than the current ones you see on data phones like the iPhone and Blackberry.  I can see how this would be a product that could be popular.  The store I work at caters to many professionals from some of the biggest US companies.  The way documents are viewed is a question I get asked about every day.   This new product will be the first of it’s kind to be available at cellular stores. 

          I am assuming that like the Kindle, clients will be able to subscribe to magazines and newspapers.  This would be something else that would appeal to professional clients.  Many times major companies have people from all different countries working for them.  Want to have the paper from back home sent to you?  Why not?  Unlike the Kindle, this will also work oversees when AT&T has coverage.

          It will be interesting to see how book sales do on this device.  It is not the primary purpose so I am curious about if the advertising will include the fact that e-books can be purchased.  I would imagine it will be something the sales people will be aware of and told to bring up during the sale but it might not be something that they concentrate on.   Since the books will be available through purchase from Barnes and Noble, it will almost seem like most of the advertising will come from their side.

          With Sprint and AT&T getting into the e-book business, it will be interesting to see if T-Mobile and Verizon get into the game as well.

          Should we be surprised that publishers are changing their minds on their books being available for e-sale? I’m not.  If anything, this is only an omen of what is to come.

          It is a fairly well known fact that e-books tend to be cheaper than actual books.  This makes sense because there is not the cost of actually producing the book.   With book prices down it would mean less money to be earned.  Of course publishers are going to start to get concerned.  If it is effecting their sales drastically, they will do whatever it means to make those numbers again.  If that means taking back the rights to sale there book electonically, can you really blame them?

           One interesting point in this article was that it pointed out that when you are done reading the books you do not have the option of reselling or donating this book.  I’m sure those types of sales hurt the publishing industry too but I had thought about how it affect how many people can read.   Think about how many books get donated every year to schools or anywhere else that kids would otherwise not get these books.  Think about how many people buy books at Goodwill or used bookstores because they just plain can’t afford to buy new books.  I know I buy quite a few books used personally because I do love to read so much and can’t always afford new books.  It seems like a huge hit to the reading community to take away so many used books.  Plus honestly, if you sell back a book you will probably make the difference you would have saved buying it electonically.  Furthermore, I am willing to bet most authors would say that would rather there books be read by tons of people than make massive amounts of money.  I know if I ever get published I would be so happy to hear anyone read by book and wouldn’t care if they paid $10 or $.10.

          Do you think that this is a warning of things to come?  Do you think more publishers will end up pulling books too as their sales drop.

     Kindle Joins a Literary Ritual: Authors Can Autograph It: A recent reading in Manhattan at the Strand bookstore by David Sedaris, whose most recent book is “When You Are Engulfed in Flames,” may have offered a glimpse of the future. A man named Marty who had waited in the book-signing line presented his Kindle, on the back of which Mr. Sedaris, in mock horror, wrote, “This bespells doom.”

     Personally I can see both good and bad things about the Kindle.

     I think for the newspaper and magazine feature it would be awesome.  Obviously the cost if you were not doing much wouldn’t add up but if you were traveling or had a job that required lots of media work, this would be so conventiant.  Not only that but it is much more eco friendly then getting a daily paper.  Hey, maybe someone should think about a cheaper version that only does newspapers and magazines.  I would buy that.

     Also I like that you can subscribe to blogs from them.  Let’s face it, we are in an age where blogs are a huge form of comunication.  Lots of phones have applications similar to this but the Kindle is obviously a better format.

     The Read To Me feature would be very helpful in many cases.  Think of the elderly who have trouble seeing books.  Going and getting books on tape is a little inconvenient.  Plus there really is not that many books on tapes that are easy to find.  This makes basically any book available to have read out loud.  I don’t think it would work in the case of someone that is blind because how would they navigate the menu but somewhere who is just hard of seeing this would also be amazing.  Maybe you have a reading disability.  I’m sure there is lots of other examples I’m not thinking of.  This could open a whole new world of books to people that before were limited.

     Something that I think would be nice is if college text were available.  I looked over Amazon a little bit before writing this and it doesn’t look like many (if any) are available.  This is very unfortunate because text books are extremely expensive.  I don’t even want to think about how much I spent over the course of getting my degrees.  I know when I was getting my AA I spent probably close to an average of 500-600 a semester.  With my BA, I was an English major so a lot of my books where available at regular books stores (and thanks to Powells I was able to find many used) so it was more like 100-2oo.  So let’s just say on the conservative side for 500 for eight semesters (4000) and 100 for the last eight (800) which means about 4800.   It looks like most Kindle downloads are about 25% off.  That would have saved me 1200.  The Kindle run about 400 right?  That is still saving 800. That is huge for a college student.  That would have meant that my last semmester of school wouldn’t have had to gone on my credit card.  That would have been so helpful.  I hope someday text are available on the Kindle because of how much it would save students.

     Alright now to switch to the negative.  This would be a hit in profit for authors and publishers.  That would end up hurting the book industry.  That would be so awful.

     Also it is a peice of technology.  This means it will have problems.  It will wear out. I have worked in electronics for over five years now.  I know how frustrating they can be.  If it stops working you would not only be out the price of the device but all the books that you have brought.

     Personally, I have no intention of getting a Kindle because I love books so much.  I love holding a book in my hand.  I love the smell of a new book.  My apartment is actually sort of decorated with books.  I have the Harry Potter series in hardback on one bookshelf.  My fireplace mantle has most the Nicholas Sparks books on hardback (working on getting all).  I have a book/dvd case that has all Stephanie Meyers, Mindy Klasky, Kyra Davis, Caprice Crane, and most Neil Gaiman books.  Then I have a big bookcase in my bedroom full of all different books.  I love the book of books being all over my apartment.  My dream has always been to have a house with a libary.  Obviously if my books were electronic none of this would be possible.  I am a physical book buyer through and through.

     So what do you think about the Kindle.  Would you/ have you bought one? What do you think about David Sedaris writing that?