I recently downloaded a couple of eBook reader applications for my netbook. I figured my netbook is similar in size and weight to a hardback book. I downloaded a small app that rotates the display, so I can read eBooks using the Netbook on its side, open like a book. Amazon’s Kindle is available to buy in the UK and is at a pretty good price point, it also has good online connectivity and looks like a good value package. Somehow though, I’m still not totally impressed by eBooks. Or the range of choice of books available. I’d heard that some libraries are loaning eBooks on memory sticks. I do have an uneasy feeling about eBooks, in the same way that I had uneasy feelings about internet search engines. Are these contributing to a decline in libraries and library services or just part of a technology shift? I’m not sure. Reading off a screen isn’t like reading off paper and holding a book in your hand. I don’t know about Kindle, maybe that would be an improvement over a backlit screen.
2 comments:
I have mixed feelings regarding ebooks as well. So far, in honesty, I am sort of ignoring them :-) However, the library I work for does offer ebooks available to download. I'm sure the thinking is that by offering them as a choice, it will help to keep us relevent. I just don't know...
I worry about all our lives depending on technology. What if all of human culture was wiped out with an enormous natural magnetic storm?
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