Thank you all for welcoming Beatrice with such enthusiasm. I really do think my Writerly Life has been greatly enhanced by her adoption--ur, purchase. And I'll be sure to let you know how the Scrivener thing is going.
*gentle squee*
Today's get-the-writers-chatting question:
Is a Kindle or a Sony Reader on your Christmas wish list this year?
The prices are slowly dropping, the number of electronic-reader owners rising. From where I sit, it seems to me that the bulk of users are of bookish ilk: agents, editors, rabid librarians. I have yet to see an average joe-drinker curled up in a coffee shop with a Kindle.
Macs, yes. iPhones, yes. Everywhere. But no readers. Not yet.
Or maybe I live in an electronically illiterate area.
So, what about you? Do you have one? Want one? Will they ultimately replace all traditional books? Are trees across the planet rejoicing?
Do tell.
I'm going to go heat up my coffee. Good way to start the weekend, don't you think?
Miss Snark's First Victim
I'm keeping an eye in e-readers prices. Want to buy a Kindle, but er... don't want to spend $300 for it. If it get down closer to $100, then I'll chip in.
ReplyDeleteCurrently, I can read ebooks on my netbook... so I'm not in any rush. :)
Replace all traditional books? No! No no no no no! Just the idea of it has sullied my Friday.
ReplyDeleteI blame you.
Kindle 2.0 User!! I ABSOLUTELY LOVE IT! Yes, I had to shout it out!
ReplyDeleteI love the fact that I can download the first chapter of a book - FREE - and then decide whether or not I want to buy. This has saved me $$$, since I've bought many a book, read the first chapter, and realized I had wasted my $$$.
Now, I resisted Kindle (or any e-reader) for a while. I love the feel of books. I love the smell of books. Yes, I'm a bit odd in that way. I still go to Borders, browse the shelves, and then download onto my Kindle. I recently downloaded The Hobbit and the complete Lord of the Rings Trilogy. My hardbacks were nearing the point where I needed to replace them. I did, but in electronic format. Mists of Avalon is next on my list. : )
I'm not sure if e-books will ultimately replace all books, unless publishers decide to stop printing books. And, yes, some trees are probably rejoicing.
S
I don't think e-books are ever going to completely replace print books. After all, there are some advantages to print.
ReplyDeleteA Kindle is on my Christmas list though. They're just so cool...
Most of the books I read come from the library, so for now, no e-reader. I am a big fan of audio book downloads, though, especially when I travel.
ReplyDeleteI don't want an e-reader. I love owning a library in my home, a place I can go to disappear into another world. I don't want to worry about breaking my e-reader because I'm clumsy. And I don't want yet another electronic device to invade my life.
ReplyDeleteGive me books, and I'll be just fine.
Kindle isn’t available in Canada. Nor do they seem to have any plans on bringing it here. Sigh. I would totally purchase one otherwise...
ReplyDeleteI'm still on the fence. I always want to look at e-readers when I see other people with them (at airports I'm kind of a Kindle stalker), but I really love pages - their scent, the crinkling sound they make, how disastrous they look when I really love a book and therefore maul it in the reading process. I have a feeling if I mauled a Kindle it would only lead to badness.
ReplyDeleteI resisted getting an iPod for so long, now I can't imagine living without it. So yeah, I guess I'll cave if the price does indeed drop to affordable.
ReplyDeleteI do love the smell of a new book, though!
Originally I was very anit-kindle but I can now see the appeal for getting books that I would never read more than once. Conversely, I'm never going to stop buying "real" books (as long as they print them) because there's nothing like holding a paperback in your hands and getting that full experience. My husband has been hinting that he'll buy me a Kindle (in hopes that it will decrease the chance of my books bleeding over into a fourth bookcase before Christmas).
ReplyDeleteDon't hate me, people. I don't think I ever want to give up the feel and smell of a real book in my hands. That, and reading off a screen kinda hurts my eyes. I don't think a Kindle would hold up to Cheeto stains and killing bees as well as a sturdy well-loved paperback.
ReplyDeleteI never thought I'd want a Kindle until I bought one for my son's birthday. I wanted to set it up, put some books on it before I gave it to him and I just fell in love with it. It's so easy to read from any angle - you can make the print bigger! ..and it drops right down in my purse like a paperback. A paperback with limitless possible titles! I hated to give it away - but my son was delighted and carries it everywhere. I do want one for Christmas. BTW - he is pretty much an average Joe. Works at a power plant.
ReplyDeleteThe Kindle is not for me. I thought about one, but after that business with making Orwell's books disappear, it made me wonder about how much access they had to what might be on my Kindle.
ReplyDeleteAnd what if I lost my Kindle? If I misplace a paperback, or even a hard cover, it's no big deal. $25 tops out the window. If I lose my Kindle, I lose it and everything on it.
And books don't malfunction. You open it and there are all the words. I don't have to worry about whether or not I recharged the thing lately. If I drop it, I don't have to worry that it might have broken, and I just can't see curling up with a Kindle at night for an hour or so before I go to sleep.
I have recently gotten hooked on e-books. I am not really interested in getting a Kindle or Sony e-reader, but I might if the price goes down.
ReplyDeleteI use e-books for the short, one-time reads I purchase for either research or my book club. Books I know I probably won't re-read
OR
for books I carry with me everywhere (dictionary, thesaurus, style guides, etc.) for when I'm writing on the road.
I downloaded B&N's e-reader to my laptop and purchase e-books from them. A few small presses release books as PDFs.
For beloved favorites I'll probably continue to purchase hardbacks, but, if I'm going to buy a paperback, I'll get the e-book, if it's available and save shelf space
On the fence, because the positive comments above influenced me to climb up there.
ReplyDeleteNot ready to jump.... yet...
I'm not interested in the Kindle. I have enough electronic stuff in my life that I have to charge. Can you imagine just getting into a great scene or the climax of the book, and your battery dies? I would probably freak out and throw the thing against the wall.
ReplyDeleteNope, just give me shelf after shelf of lovely paper (sorry, environment). My goal by the time I die is to have a library like the one in the Beast's castle in Beauty and the Beast. Oh, yeah.
I got the money for one on my birthday. After a lot of research I decided to wait for the Sony PRS 700 which allows to put comments in pdfs. That way I will be able to edit my first drafts much faster. I cannot read for a long time on screen and I hate to print several copies of the same manuscript. So the e-book reader will be an improvement on that. Maybe I'll even buy an e-book or two just for fun but mainly it's for my "job" as an author.
ReplyDeleteI have a Kindle and it was love at first read. Not only are there copious amounts of titles that are free (Yes! I said FREE!) the 9.99 selling price of harbacks is a big draw. So is the half price or marked down paperback versions. In fact, I haven't paid full price for a book since I bought it. For someone who can read four or fice books a week, that's a lot of cha ching!
ReplyDeleteThe only drawback to the kindle I see is the limited availbility of some titles (I had to go to my library to get the Hunger Games). Other than that, I wonder how I lived without it.
Sidenote: The battery life on the kindle is incredibly long. Long enough for me to read four books back to back and not recharge it.
I read novels on my iTouch. I love my iTouch. I love my iTouch more than I love most electronic devices, including my refrigerator, which may provide food but does not help me read under my blanket in the dark with one hand and without a light.
ReplyDeleteI don't want any kind of electronic reader. NOTHING can replace the smell of a brand new book. I flip through the pages and just.... inhale. *sigh*
ReplyDeleteMy main beef with e-readers is you can't take them in the tub!
ReplyDeletePart of me will never be able to give up on real books. I just love them too much.
ReplyDeleteBesides, the prices of these e-readers are way too high for me to buy into them. It makes no sense to me to pay hundreds of dollars for the privilege of buying electronic books for 10 bucks a pop.
But then, I'm cheap.
I hadn't the foggiest idea what a Kindle was other than a gentle suggestion one puts to a flame to burn more enthusiastically. What curious curiosities we are presented these days;)
ReplyDeleteUntil I read LDJensen's comments, I had no clue Kindle isn't available in Canada. Doesn't matter though. Not interested. Technologies make me nervous. They don't last forever. My real life book have a better chance. Remember what happened to videos, LPs, 8 track tapes? They were all eventually replaced by something better. So does that mean my kids will no longer be able to read my YA books in ten years time? (Okay, maybe they won't want to read them, but at least then they'll have the option). And when you go to a writer's conference, how is the author going to sign your "book" if there are no tree-sacrificed books available? (Can you tell I just returned from one?) So for me,there's no Kindle on my Christmas wish list, just tons of YA novels in the old-fashioned format. :D
ReplyDeleteI've seen quite a few Kindles out there on business travel. It does make sense for the "road warrior" who does a lot of areading and a lot of travelling. Those I've spoken to are not usually in the 'book-ish' biz - I've spoken to consultants, engineers and clinical research associates. Just various people who love to read, have to travel often and are trying to reduce the weight of what they carry on travel.
ReplyDeleteDo I want an eReader? Possibly. My day job does include a decent dose of travel. I like to have several books with me for light reading, and they aren't light weight. ;)
Thus far, I've compromised by having MobiPocket reader installed on my laptop and Blackberry. But I would love to have an eReader, I think, for travel. Whereas at home, I still curl up in my favorite reading chair and savor the feel of paper under my fingertips as I turn the pages.
Another thought is that I tend to read the books in e-format first. Then I decide whether I absolutely love the book enough to collect it, in hard cover. This has spared me no end of agony when deciding to thin out my book collection at the ouse - because my husband has a rule that my 'library' must fit in one bedroom. Having an eReader allows me to read to my heart's content and only collect the books in hard cover that I know I'll read over and over again.
I bought my husband a kindle for his birthday and I've borrowed it a couple of times but I'm really not keen. I prefer traditional books. Although I do see there appeal for when you go away or if your job involves a lot of reading. It was great for reading friends WIP too, much nicer than a computer screen.
ReplyDeleteMy husband got me one as a surprise. I never thought I'd want one, but now I'm warming up to the idea for magazines and newspapers. I like a few magazines very much, but hate how they pile up.
ReplyDeleteBut I agree with all those who say that a Kindle will never replace my beloved books!
I'm not there yet. I read a great article about kids growing up on that technology, and how it will be a gradual changeover, but I'm not sure about that. My husband wanted to get me one for my birthday, and I'm SO glad he asked me first. I love being able to loan books to people, and I don't think the price of e-books is low enough yet to make that a preferred way to read something. If I read something on a Kindle that cost $10 to download, there's no guarantee I can sell a friend on that writer without being able to loan her a physical book (for free). But handing someone a physical book, and them finding that they like it, may make people go out and buy the backlist.
ReplyDelete