The Ebook/Ereader Rant

If you haven't figured out yet, I am a list person. I like lists because they're insightful and they lead me to think about or look into things I may not have otherwise. This morning I came across a few fantastic lists. The first of which I will share, the others I will paste at the bottom. I got this from Shelf Awareness. Its a daily newsletter that I subscribe to that comes with all kinds of interesting news on books, the book industry, etc.

The Regulator Bookshop, Durham, N.C., featured "Five Things Jeff Bezos Doesn't Want You to Know About the Kindle" on its blog:

1. You read slower on a Kindle.
2. You almost certainly read stupider on a Kindle.
3. The Kindle flunked out of Princeton.
4. Amazon can play Big Brother with your books.
5. Governments can play Big Brother with your books.


The reason I am sharing this my friends- Kindle sucks. I am not a big supporter of ebooks and ereaders in general, but the Kindle I am particularly not a fan of-and I love Amazon!

Why? Reasons 4 & 5 on this list play a large part in it. If I am going to spend my hard earned money on books I don't want them taken away from me. And it has happened already and will continue to happen with ereaders. You do not own ebooks like you own real books. You own the right to have a copy of the digital file on your ereader/computer. And those rights may be revoked for any number of reasons- a change in trade laws with the US, a change in copyright law, a change of heart by the author about digital editions...anything. And they don't have to reimburse your money. And based on the horror stories I have heard-they don't even let you know they're taking them back. You just hook up your ereader and bam, the book disappears.

Now this has primarily only happened with the works of long dead authors and modern classics, but it is annoying none the less. In addition to this, with the constant battle of copyright laws with Google and the changes happening over there I am just too uncertain to buy into it yet.

Another reason not to like the Kindle- you can only buy from Amazon! So if they don't have it digitally, you're S O L. Their newer editions are compatible to read other formats, but that is after a conversion process. But I can't go to say- Sony's ewebsite, or Kobo and download. Its not compatible with my library's ebooks program either. And I'm not sure its compatibility with Google Books either.

I have 2 other reasons for not liking ereaders outright, never mind the Kindle. 1. Is reason one on the above list-you read slower. And you do. Because the screen is smaller, because you're having to scroll, and because you're staring at a computer screen! All the adjustments your brain and eyes need to process add fractions of a second. and while I know that this isn't a huge deal it feels more difficult reading on an ereader than from a book. And in a world that sometimes has problems attracting readers anything that makes it more difficult frustrates me.

Not to mention what staring at a computer all day either at work or school and then coming home to read on an ereader screen-can we imagine what this is going to do to the long term effect of our eyes? I can only imagine.

Second reason...the end of book sharing. Its one of my favorite parts of being a book lover. If I liked the book so much I loan it to half a dozen people to read. You can't do that with an ebook. The best you've got is being able to tweet or share a quote or two on Facebook (which, while admittedly cool doesn't fulfill my purpose). And through being unable to share ebooks it will also lead to the end of used book stores. I heart used book stores. If I could go on vacation by myself that is what I would do-wander from used book store to used book store in England. I love their uniqueness, I love their charm, their variety, their "home-i-ness". I don't want these places to die.

And this belief sort of leads into the last two lists- again, I received these through the Shelf Awareness newsletter:

ReadWriteWeb suggested Five Ways That E-Books Are Better Than Paper Books:

1. Social Highlighting
2. Notes
3. Look-up of words
4. Ability to Tweet & Facebook quotes
5. Search

Giving equal time to the loyal opposition, ReadWriteWeb followed up a day later with Five Ways That Paper Books Are Better Than eBooks:

1. Feel
2. Packaging
3. Sharing
4. Keeping
5. Second-hand books


Lastly to conclude this rant, there is a new children's book out by Lane Smith called It's A Book. Please watch the trailer. It's fantastic and may become essential reading in my house for any future children.