Reading Electronically—The Possibilities

Last week I wrote of my skepticism about the alleged electronic reading revolution. (In case you weren’t paying attention: The devices are expensive; no matter what fancy model you buy, it will most likely be obsolete in a few years; and it might develop “endearing glitches” or stop working at some point.) I do like to be fair though, so I thought I’d look into some possible advantages to the electronic readers.

I looked at the features of Amazon’s Kindle. The device looks nice. I might even buy one if I could afford it and if I weren’t still so skeptical about them. (Apparently Amazon is not going to send me one for free, but I remain open to the possibility.)

So what looks good about Kindle?

1. It allows you to search through the book you’re reading, other books in your library, or on the Web. I would love this feature, I think (assuming it works as well as they say it does).
2. There is a built-in dictionary. Another handy feature, but I do hope you would be able to get periodic updates (for free) when new words/meanings are added to our language. The updates would probably be available; the “free” part I’m not so sure about.
3. You can change the text size or zoom in on an image.
4. You can add notes and highlights—and remove them later.
5. I suppose this is an advantage, but it actually makes me sad: “You’ll never need to bookmark your last place in the book, because Kindle remembers for you and always opens to the last page you read.” Tell me, what true reader doesn’t enjoy a beautiful or unique bookmark?
6. It’s lightweight and thin. The Kindle 2 weighs in at 10.2 ounces and is about a third of an inch thick.
7. It holds over 1,500 books. You could carry your entire library everywhere you go. You could also lose your entire library in a heartbeat, but Amazon says they back up everything you download so you can download it again if you need to.

So have I changed my mind? No. I remain skeptical. The features are intriguing, but the drawbacks are serious, especially for those of us who can’t plunk down over $350 for the privilege of reading.

Still, if Amazon is reading this, please feel free to send me a complimentary Kindle loaded with British mysteries (some P. D. James would be appreciated) and young adult books (something like The Olympians or Inkheart series). If I love it, I’ll tell everyone.