Where have all the Books gone?
With Technology taking over in pretty much all aspects of life, its no surprise that books have lost there place in our world today. The enjoyment of curling up to a warm fire with a cup of hot cocoa or glass of wine on a rainy day will soon be a thing of the past. Even the sound of the cracking from the binding of opening a new book and the touch the crisp pages of a book fresh from the press have lost there share of the market. Now I don't know any statistics at the moment; however, I do know the Kindle, iPod and other eBook readers are becoming more prevalent with a huge market places like Amazon selling eBooks.
I am not opposed to change or technology as long as it is for the better. I had the pleasure of speaking with Monique Tilford, co-author of Your Money or Your Life. We spoke about another project that she is working on but it was a great to find her book on Amazon in an Kindle Edition. Which was a great reminder that because the shift to ebooks has begun that doesn't mean that the quality of books has diminished. If you wanted to find out more about her book, check out her blog at Your Money Or Your Life.info
So what does this all of this have to BatteriesInAFlash? The Kindle battery has been a very hot seller for us and we have not been able to keep them on the shelves. We have literally sold out of the batteries the same day they arrive. The Kindle 2 has just been released (ironically the battery is unknown to us at the moment) and has been selling out as well.
Although, the Kindle is not alone in the world of eBooks. The iPod Nanos and above have the ability to load eBooks and the iPhone or iTouch have Apps that make eBooks possible and even Sony has the eBook Reader. So with all the options out there where do you stand?
Well, I shouldn't have waited for the excuse to buy one -- I am a big reader and even at the cost of the Kindle I do believe I may save myself some money over the long term. I had not realized how many free and extremely inexpensive books were available for download. I really enjoy reading the classics and it's so convenient to be able to access them through the Kindle and Amazon. I already own many of these books but they are old and musty smelling copies from my long-ago college days.
Also quite nice is to be able to indulge in "guilty pleasure" reading like romances, vampire mysteries, and other "questionable" reading that would be slightly embarrassing to be doing in public. And likewise, while I can't feel smug reading Atlas Shrugged visibly on the train, I also don't have to be lugging a 1,170 page tome around.
The most dangerous aspect of Kindle ownership is reading book reviews and "best of" lists, as well as listening to authors speaking about their books on NPR -- it's MUCH to easy to quickly buy the books on the fly!
It's nice to know that I won't have to depend on people to bring me reading material while I am in the hospital and then otherwise unable to get around on my own for awhile.
On the more practical side, I was able to migrate to a smaller purse and still keep plenty of reading material with me. It's also extremely easy to bring out and read while waiting in lines and other quick little waits that pop up through the day.
I am amazed by Amazon Kindle 2 E Ink technology. Nothing out there comes close to kindle 2 and amazon large range of e-book titles.