You’ve most likely seen or heard about the new Amazon Kindle that allows you to read books electronically…
I think this is a stupid product and heres why…
Some products we want the physical versions of and some we don’t!
Records, A Tracks, Tapes and CDs
Back in the day, wayyyy back…. there use to be records and A Tracks.
These things were humungous. An obvious thing we don’t want because they take up too much space.
Tapes sucked because you had to rewind and fast forward them and sometimes the tape in the casette would get all messed up.
CDs made more sense than tapes because you could skip ahead quickly but took up roughly same space as a tape. The only thing really bad about cd’s was that they could get scratched and the fact you had to tote them around everywhere in your CD Holder.
The obvious choice for music is an iPod with digital music. It makes sense. Its a simple little device and can hold all the music we’d ever want for 3 lifetimes. Is there any way for consumers to have a better way of consuming and storing their music…? I don’t really think so at this point.
Maybe having a chip installed inside our head or something but that would be too weird. Onward…
VHS Tapes and DVDs
In movies we went from BIG reels with a projection screen to BIG tapes you put in a VCR, then to DVDs, and finally to movies streamed over the internet via Netflix and iTunes.
I’ve only ever bought one DVD in my life. That movie was Snatch. A pretty good movie. After I bought it guess how many times I watched it. 4 times I would say… I think I paid $20 for the DVD. If I wanted to rent that movie 4 times on iTunes it would have been cheaper.
It would have cost me less and I wouldn’t have to tote it around or find a space for it. Guess what I did… I gave it to my brother. He has something like 100 DVDs he’s bought and now he never watches them. Maybe sometimes he’ll dig in his collection and watch one but its rare.
Its kinda funny. Once you have DVDs and its a fairly big collection, if you have to move, you have to find a box, put them in the box and then unpack the box when your moving in to your new place. Put all the DVDs in your movie stand and watch them sit in the stand like pictures or something.
My brother has moved a couple times. The first two times he was excited to get his DVDs up by the entertainment stand. After awhile this process gets old and you stop putting up the movies and they just sit until your ready to either throw them out, keep maybe a few, or sell the rest.
To me, minimalism makes more sense for DVDs and CDs. I prefer iTunes, Redbox or Netflix. Rent something when you want to see it and send it back when your done. That way its not sitting around somewhere taking up space.
Books and The Amazon Kindle
Books are the only thing I would have in a physical version. Heres why…
I circle page numbers of the book, underline certain things on each page and write notes in the back of the book so I can recall it easier so I don’t forget it. I like turning the pages. I like not having to look at another electronic or digital screen. Even though they say it doesn’t have any glare. Which is probably why it doesn’t have anything in color and is in grayscale (or does it)?
I know if I keep the book I bought 20 years ago or 50 years ago it will still be the same exact version I have now. It won’t change. Who’s to say you download something on the Kindle and the book is still the same or even still in your Kindle.
Yes books are a lot heavier and harder to tote around than CDs and DVDs, but physical book are still my preference.
In those rare cases, since a Kindle is an electronic device someone might steal that before they would steal any books.
Another reason is that just like Netflix and iTunes, when I’m in the mood to purchase a song or rent a movie you pay a measly little fee. Anytime I want to buy a book I go to Amazon and buy 2-3 books for a measly little fee. But buying a Kindle or Kindle DX is a slightly bigger decision since its two version cost $259 and $489.
My method for reading books is this. I buy physical versions of the book and listen to audio book downloads. If the audio book version is really good I’ll buy the physical book.
If I’m traveling I’ll just bring my iPod and listen to an audio book version. Why… the iPod is very small and light and I may never even open a book up, too many things to do! If its long term travel longer than 2 weeks though, I would bring a book along.
I might change my mind if Amazon made some simple changes to the Kindle but I doubt it….
So what’s your take…? Do you like the Amazon Kindle. Do you think it has a place in the book world… or do you think it will vanish because more people like the physical version of a book. Let me know by writing a comment below.
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{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
I would not waste money on a kindle. If I wanted to read books without a paper format I’d download them to my laptop or listen to them on audio. I’m a literary person, but most books I do not keep forever. I use libraries liberally and often buy used books. The price is the worst thing about the kindle but it’s also likely to be stolen, hurt my eyes, get wet or lost. Most people who can afford the kindle can read books on their fancy phones or buy a netbook(or regular laptop) which can do so much more! I don’t see the point in buying yet another expensive and fragile device. They will be obsolete in 10 years and nothing will completely replace books.
haha, I agree! Was just looking at the kindle today online wondering why would someone want that??