Random Birthday Post - On Kindle, E-books etc.

We will take a break from guest post series just for this Friday. It's my birthday today, so I figured, I should post something. Next week, editing series will resume. 

So birthday presents ....

Thanks to Mom and Dad's generous contribution, we now have 2 kindles in the house. Both Hubby and I bought one each. (Yes, we don't really share gadgets. EVER.) 

And this should come across as a surprise to many of you, who have no doubt heard me rant about e-books, and how they would never be the same as paper books for me. 

Having had my kindle for about 2 days now...I can say two things: 

1. e-books will never replace paper books for me. 

2. I love my kindle 

It may seem contradictory, but it really isn't. 

I still love paper books. I have no intention of reducing my purchase of them (opened 5 books this morning as a present - okay, I cheated. I chose them. But still....). There is still something about picking up a book, each with its different feel and shape. Books and their smell. And the satisfaction of owning them. Yes. I don't get that from e-books. I have books on my kindle. But in terms of emotional value of owning those books - there isn't any. If I damage any of my paper books, I get upset. I am careful with them. I wouldn't let anyone else borrow them (unless coached heavily in how to read my books, after which lecture, most people don't want it anyway :P). But books on kindle are simply...documents. It's transferred from one place to another. 

So now the second part - I love my Kindle. Yes, I absolutely do. It even has a name: Caleb. 

And that's important, because so far only one of my gadgets had a name, and that's my netbook, because I completely totally love it. So Kindle getting a name means it's very high in importance. For one thing, it really isn't like reading on a computer. The screen has no glare. There is no eye-strain. It is very easy to use, easy to navigate, and easy to maintain. There are few things fusspots like me and my husband wish it could do (like allowing us to organise kindle files on the computer, rather than having to do it on kindle which takes longer, but we know we are obsessive) but on the whole, it's a great device. The storage value is considerable. Even if I take paper books with me everywhere (and I will), taking Kindle as well, immediately gives me access to a much larger library. There are also a lot of free books as well as some very cheap ones. This will become like borrowing from a library, where I might try books I wouldn't necessarily buy. So I am hoping that this will encourage me to read at least some of the books, I would otherwise ignore. 

We've bought the ones with 3G. While you can't expect to be able to use the Internet with the same capacity as an actual device made for it, it is handy for a quick look up of something. It works. And once I got used to it, it's easy to navigate. Even my typing speed on Kindle has already increased after a bit of practice. 

And now...the very useful bit for writer. I can transfer my personal documents to kindle. So I have transferred my WIP on there that I am editing. So I can do a read through, and add some notes etc. Of course I can do this on computer, paper etc. but this just gives me yet another format to look at, and anyone who has edited a book would know that you pick up different things when you change a format. Besides, it's really cool reading my book on there, because it looks so professional :P 

So yes, I am absolutely thrilled I bought Kindle, and I totally love it. But my contribution to paper books sales shall continue as per usual.