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E books / Kindle / Sony Reader


Adam

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Personally I think sat navs are a menace - everyone is nervous about map reading when they first start to drive and finding their way around, but you just have to get used to it and you never learn how to by relying on 'things'. Most of the people who cut across lanes etc on the motorway and cause accidents are relying on sat navs instead of using their eyes and more to the point, brains !

 

Back to e-readers though, there is an interesting article on the Sony e-reader in Waterstones magazine by author Toby Young. He says that that the real reason why the industry is so adverse to them and new technology in general (I also find this with print on demand) is that if e-books catch on then authors will be able to bypass the middle men, and this includes publishers, as well as book shops, and sell direct to the public. I suspect that he is right, and feel another blog post coming on !

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I was told this on good authority by the local Police Officers that I come into contact with as Editor of my village newsletter. Customers at work who buy these things have also backed this up.

Edited by Talisman
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But that doesn't mean 'most of the people who cut lanes and cause accidents' do so because of Sat Nav. What you mean is 'a lot of people who use sat navs cut lanes and cause accidents' Either way In any case I would dispute it. I know lots of people who use sat nav without a problem.

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Very useful and I WANT one now! :D But do I really NEED one? Is that a good reason for not getting one, besides feeling it would be a little bit of a luxury. Oh well I guess it will have to wait!

 

Of course you NEED one! I am sure your house is full of books. Think how much less space e-books take up. I think buying an e-reader can be classed under a drive for efficiency, less dusting, less clutter...

 

(Am I making a good case for you? :irked:)

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Of course you NEED one! I am sure your house is full of books. Think how much less space e-books take up. I think buying an e-reader can be classed under a drive for efficiency, less dusting, less clutter...

 

(Am I making a good case for you? :D)

Yes a very good case - I would definitely love one - that's almost NEED but...

 

I've already decided that I NEED one... but that budget of mine just won't stretch.. there's so many other NEEDS on my list. :lol:
...like Michelle other NEEDS are taking the funds at the moment. sniff!!

 

decided santi claus NEEDS to bring me one of these :irked:

 

..maybe we could all ask for one then mug him?

Is that really in the spirit of Christmas?

 

If it is I want a silver one please!

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I have hundreds of technical articles/pdfs/full books that I would otherwise have to read off the computer screen thus have been putting off for years, so no, it would for me be pretty practical as it unlocks the potential of my ebooks :D

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Do you not think the novelty of using one would wear off after a while though?

 

For some folks possibly, but for others no. the E-reader will allow me to read when my MS is bad and I can't otherwise read a book. It will also be great when I am away on business travel which I do a lot of.

 

Horses for courses I think.

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I have had my Sony Reader since the beginning of August and I absolutely love it! It is so convenient to carry so many books at one time, I can instantly get new releases without having to leave my home or worry about them being sold out. But perhaps the biggest factor for me (especially as a science teacher) is thinking about how much paper is no longer being wasted by people like many of us who read a large quantity of books in a single month!

The reader is also easy to use, no more worrying about cracking the spine on paperbacks (I know - I'm obsessed with keeping my books in pristine condition) or lugging around a heavy hardcover. I also find I am reading even more books because of how easy this device makes it.

 

My hope for the future is that e-readers catch on and are able to benefit our lives not only in terms of the environment but in convenience and savings. Imagine how much the price of textbooks could go down, imagine never having the students in your lives complain about heavy backpacks, imagine the ease of making sure that each child has access to a textbook (a very simple need that is falling by the wayside in many classrooms).

E-readers will never completely replace books, but one must admit there are many possible benefits to this new technology.

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The environmental benefits are ones which imo are seriously underplayed, and which both Sony and the publishing industry in general should definately be plugging more.

 

I have also been wondering about why this benefit isn't being discussed more. We can hardly move without being bomabarded by the next big thing to "save the planet" and yet a device, which if utilized to the best of its ability can really make a difference in the world's paper consumption, is not even being advertised as environmentally friendly.

I have shown the reader to my grade 7 students, and discussed the environmental benefits, the economic ones (cost of university texts etc) and the practical ones (ease of use, fewer books to carry around). They all seem very excited about the reader and their reaction alone leads me to believe that e-readers are not simply marketable to avid readers but that there is a huge market among university and high school students (that is - if/when the textbooks become available and if/when the price of the readers is reduced considerably).

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