By the time that I had an iPod in my hands the device had already gone through several generations and I'd already been through a long parting period with the medium of compact disc.
At first, it was a Sony mini-disc player back when you had to physically record music onto the discs in 1/1 (real) time. Then it was a chunky, clunky Archos Jukebox MP3 player with hacked firmware if only to make it a few more features closer to the iPod I should have purchased in the first place. Without iTunes compatibility, I was still just ripping copies of real-life discs.
There was comfort in that. That I could still make use of the trendy CD sleeve wallpaper plastering my walls. I didn't quite get that after the CD was in the computer, wallpaper was the ONLY thing it was good for.
When I finally realized that the most complete music collection I owned was in my computer, not thumbtacked to my walls, I broke down and purchased an iPod.
Though one day I may regret all of the DRMed music I've purchased from iTunes (where were you Amazon?), the iPod didn't just change the way I listened to music, it changed my quality of life. I was listening to a whole heck of a lot more music than ever before, discovering more artists and enjoying them in more places.
Apple has not been able to add anything substantial (for me) to the experience since, but today I have to wonder what kept me so attached to the physical "product" for so long?
Last week, I had to remind myself of this attachment to the physical and make one big jump. There would be no baby steps this time around--just my bookshelves that I love so much to this--
It's easy enough to say that the Amazon Kindle is changing the way I read books, but I think it's so much more than that. The Kindle is on the verge of changing my life and not just the quality of it.
There have been scores of failed e-readers in the past. Even e-ink e-readers like the Sony Reader, but Amazon has done what no one else has been able to do--connect us to all of the information in the world in a very practical way.
If you're an avid reader, or even just wish to be one, Sony's Reader can't provide a wide enough variety of books to seal the deal. While Amazon isn't 100% there either, they're far closer with far loftier goals to one day sell every book in and out of print.
This is why I thought this device was for me. To read more books without having to bend the spine from closing on me, without the words slinking into the gutter, without craning my neck to read the left side of the page, without the weight of a 500 page Dave Eggers hardcover. To pay $7.99 to $9.99 for books that I was paying $12.99 to $28.99 for in the past.
I didn't expect that there was an even smaller demographic that this device was even more suited to.
If you really love to read, buy a Kindle. If you really love to learn, you should really, really buy this thing.
The Kindle is changing the way I receive information. It's always online through Sprint's high speed cell phone network and without any monthly bills. It searches Wikipedia, for free, from anywhere in the country and it does it faster than an iPhone, with a bigger, easier to read, sharp as paper screen.
Its internet browser, limited by the 4 color greyscale of the e-ink isn't the full internet experience, but it IS perfectly suited for information heavy content like news and blogs.
Here it is, viewing my blog...
I'm pretty accustomed to carrying a book with me wherever I go, only now that book just got a whole lot lighter, thinner and connected to encyclopedias, blogs and the entire internet.
Did I mention that I'm getting Time Magazine beamed to it every week for only $1.49 a month? Or that I get The New York Times every morning at 4am without having to "sync" anything.
So, when I'm not reading 100 pages of a book in one sitting, I'm reading Time, or The New York Times or the digestive habits of fish (long story) on Wikipedia or a little bit of Waiter Rant. I'm reading anything and everything and fuck the price tag, it was worth every penny. When people talked about the internet being all of the world's information at your fingertips, this is what they were talking about. Not a laptop, not the iPhone--the Kindle.
Right now, I'm finally finishing Dave Eggers' What is the What. The version I'm reading is sitting atop the printed copy in this photo...
I'm reading mostly on my back in bed without killing my wrists. It's fantastic.
It's going to be a lot easier to detach myself from the physical look and feel (and smell!) of books than I ever thought before.
I sold my old camera to offset 3/4ths of the $400 pricetag, but now that I've played with it I would have definitely purchased it outright. It'll pay itself off in savings 30-50 books from now, but it's also paying itself off in the $20 a month internet access (that barely worked) I canceled on my phone. Oh and it'll save me $50 on another bookshelf 30-50 books from now as well.
