By Denise Tran
Last Friday, on the Oprah show, Oprah announced to the world her new favorite revolutionary gadget. It is called the Amazon Kindle. She believes that the Kindle has changed her life. The Kindle is a wireless electronic, hand held, device that allows you to access over 190,000 books, blogs, newspapers and magazines. It can hold 200 books on its built-in memory, but with a memory card you can bump that number to 4,000.
Oprah can relate to many hesitant consumers because she likes to read paper books and she is not an expert when it comes to electronic devices and computers. She told her audience, “If you’re like me and a little computer challenged, do not be afraid of the Kindle—do not be afraid—because you don’t even have to have a computer for it to work. That’s the brilliant thing about it.” She loves the fact that it allows you download books straight to the device without the need for a computer. The wireless function on Kindle makes it easy to use. Currently though, the price of the device is a bit much, starting at $359.
The Kindle is a leap to a new type of library. Do you think that this is a good leap for consumers, producers, authors, publications, etc..? Do you see the Kindle being more widely used in the future, in replacement of books, newspapers, and magazines? What do you believe are the benefits and consequences of this new form of technology?
7 Comments
October 28, 2008 at 4:38 pm
I think this is basically just a mini computer that you are able to hold in your hand. There are many devices similar to this, but not solely for books and articles. I think it’s a great idea. For people who love to read all the time and prefer books to online, this seems ideal even though it also seems very technologically advanced. Also, if Oprah seems to think that its a great device and she isn’t very into these types of things, so it must really be great. I don’t see this replacing books and newspapers, etc, because we already have access to these things on the internet, and books and newspapers are still popular as ever, this is just an even easier way to get to them.
October 29, 2008 at 1:14 pm
I saw one of these in action at a friend’s house a couple of months ago. It seemed nice enough and easy to use, and probably will fill a certain niche.
I always wonder though — when I’m riding on the Metro, it seems like part of the point of reading a book in a public place like that is letting other people know what you’re reading (they see the book cover). It’s like giving your current reading list on Facebook: it’s part of your self-presentation. Sometimes it even leads to conversation. Does that social function of public reading disappear when all books just look like the back of Kindle?
October 29, 2008 at 9:15 pm
I think this is a very good invention. It makes reading way more convenient by having virtually all of your favorite books in one place. Also, if you are going on a long trip and are indecisive about what book to read, you can avoid lugging a large selection of books because all of them can be in a slim, lightweight device. Also if the Kindle became more and more widely used, less paper books would need to be printed, helping our world “go green” and be more resourceful. Keeping everything in one place, however, can have its disadvantages. If, for some reason, you lost your Kindle or it was stolen, you’re entire collection of books would be gone. Perhaps it has a backup device that you can put on your computer, but even then some are too lazy or aren’t well equipped enough to transfer all the files on their computer. The Kindle definitely has it advantages and disadvantages but is a cool device nonetheless.
November 2, 2008 at 3:51 pm
This gadget has been around for a while, i have heard of it and seen it at sharper image stores for a couple years, but it never really took off, until Oprah said she liked it.
her endorsement aside, I think its a great product, but i think it is more useful for newspapers than books. personally when i am reading a book i like to have the physical copy in my hand, but having it on a little screen would be no more convenient. yet for newspapers, the device is great, most people dont read every article in a paper, so this device makes it easy to skim over the paper everyday and not make a mess or take up a lot of space.
the only concern would be that if staring at the screen hurts your eyes, like a computer does sometimes. i think thats what most people are worried about when they think of buying this product.
November 6, 2008 at 12:53 pm
I think since people are more adapted to read off a computer screen (atleast for the younger generations) this will prove to b ea successfull gadget. I can see this as a very useful holiday present. This way, there is no need to purchase books throughout highschool as well as college. It is a very good investment. I do agree however it can take away from the social aspect, but then again, im sure the gadget will advocate and start conversation as to what you are reading, rather than why you are reading a certain book.
November 10, 2008 at 6:39 pm
I think this gadget is very interesting. It is great that it provides easy access for the user to many books and magazine articles. However, I personally like reading from traditional books rather than a computer screen. I have a harder time following the words and I often get a headache from reading off a screen. Also I think it is satisfactory to physically turn the pages of a book and see how much progress you have made. These types of devices are great in theory, but I still think that traditional books will continue to last despite the many positives of these devices.
December 14, 2008 at 10:47 pm
I always wanted something like this. It would be great to own something that would hold so many books in one place. Instead of carrying lots of books with you to your room to write a research paper, this device would help because you wouldn’t get overwhelmed with 10 books sprawled out all around you.