On a recent flight, my father finished reading his newspapers and looked at me expectantly. Surprisingly, he wanted my Kindle.
He said he wanted to see what it was like, even though he’s always been a broadsheet newspaper reader. After offering to make the font size bigger for him and showing him how to navigate with the “next page” and “previous page” buttons, he took it out of my hands and began reading TIME.
He loved it.
The Amazon Kindle is hands-down one of the most useful technological products I’ve ever owned. For starters, it only weighs 10 oz. Even with the wireless on, one can read for about four days on a single charge (and a charge only takes four hours). As someone who is always reading a book, the Kindle is perfect. A download takes only a minute with wireless access.
A check on the New York Times bestseller section of the Kindle store puts “The Help,” released in January for $24.95, at $9.99 on Kindle. It has a built-in dictionary, as well as notes and highlighting tools. If textbooks could be uploaded to the Kindle, I would never have to tote anything to class but my Kindle and notebooks.
As a reader of the latest news, I enjoy having Associated Press and New York Times updates at the tips of my fingers. I enjoy downloading TIME and Newsweek a week before they hit the newsstands for a few dollars a month. I even enjoy the entire daily edition of The Washington Post in Kindle format.
And the best part? All of the books, magazines and newspapers to which I subscribe fit into a computer with a six-inch display that is eight inches long – or roughly the size of a small book.
Despite the normal inquiries, such as if it is “hard” to read on a computer screen compared to a book or newspaper, my answer is always that you get used to it.
The Kindle does have its drawbacks. For example, as of today there are more than 275,000 titles (books, newspapers, magazines and blogs) available. Obviously, this is nowhere near every piece of literary work in existence. When I search “Harry Potter” in the Kindle store, “The Book of Harry Potter Trifles, Trivias, and Particularities” is the title on Kindle with the most relevance. Sorry, Harry fans who want the original books. Search “Twilight” however, and the entire series pops up in its entirety. As the Kindle draws popularity, one can assume this list will continue to be updated.
The original Kindle has some navigation issues as well. The “page” buttons run almost the entire length of the sides of the Kindle, therefore it becomes easy (and annoying) to accidentally switch pages when holding the Kindle. These and other issues have been noted and updated in the Kindle 2 version, which is now available.
Of course one of the biggest drawbacks to the Kindle is its price. The new Kindle DX is $489 and the original Kindle is $359. And once you have the Kindle, you still have to pay reduced amounts for the content. But much like any other new technology, these prices will go down, and the price might be worth it for enthusiastic readers.
I never thought I’d see the day when my dad admitted that reading a newspaper on a computer was “cool.” But I guess with the right technology, anything is possible.
Caitlin O’Neil can be reached at [email protected].
