I've gone to the dark side. It wasn't an easy decision, except that it was because my hand was forced. I've bought a Kindle.
Now, I've heard many complaints about e-readers generally. They're not like real books! They can't replace the feeling of the printed word, or a well-worn copy of a beloved tome. This is perfectly true; it's not the same. Much like CDs weren't the same as vinyl and MP3s weren't the same as CDs. It will be ever thus as long as technology keeps advancing.
I've been exactly one of those people, too: when MP3 players started getting popular I grumbled like a crabbit badger. It's not the SAME as CDs with ARTWORK and THERE'S JUST NO SOUL and it's RUBBISH. Then I woke up one morning and realised my living space was intolerable: I could not move for CDs. The buying had to stop. I've never regretted going over to iPod land and can't imagine why I ever complained about getting one.
The soul isn't of the medium isn't in where you store it or how you access it, you see. The soul of the book is in the words, not the paper it's printed on. The real reason behind my decision to buy one, though, was a repeat of the CD problem. I had more books than I could store, to the point where I'd stopped buying them. I had to get rid of more than sixty last month (though you never bin a book. You give them to charity shops. Binning a book is only for the truly awful ones) and it broke my heart. Even with the cleared space though, I wasn't buying more: I'd only fill it up and have to go through the same again. It was time to change methods.
That said, you still want to read on something of quality, which is why I went for a Kindle having heard many raving about the screen, and rightly so. The screen is like paper. This is impossible to explain without sounding mental, but it is. When you open up the package for the first time you might think they've stuck a piece of paper on the screen - no, that's actually the screen. There's no glare, no flicker, no blurring. It's pretty much perfect. After a while to adjust you don't even notice much difference between it and reading off paper: it's that good.
It's simple to use - a directional button, a keyboard and the previous/next page buttons are all you need, so that's all they give you - the downloading is as instant as they say, it has two built-in dictionaries to look up words as you go, you can highlight passages, search within books, and it holds something like 3,500 of them. What's not to like?
I had a minor problem with mine in that it arrived registered to someone else - it's meant to arrive registered to the Amazon account you buy it with, but it seems a lady called Anne will have my Kindle since I had hers. Sorry, Anne. Easy dealt with though - a matter of de-registering her in the menu and entering my own Amazon account details. If you've set up any other device for wi-fi you can do it for a Kindle, and away you go. It's all easy.
A little too easy to buy books, mind you. All those titles, there for a click. There is a disadvantage in that e-books are subject to VAT whereas physical books aren't, but so far I haven't noticed any massive price discrepancies.
There are two types of Kindle, the wi-fi and the wi-fi + 3G. I went for the wi-fi only Kindle; firstly because it's forty quid cheaper and secondly I don't need the ability to download books anywhere thanks very much, which is the only difference between the models. Anyway, having to wait until you have a wi-fi connection means you'll have time to think about buying stuff before you hit the button. This is a wonderful thing.
So yes: I can only recommend the Kindle. It's easy to use, but most importantly it's easy to read on. Your bookshelves will thank you.
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