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TECHNOLOGY TO FALL IN LOVE WITH: THE AMAZON KINDLE

by Hazed

It's been a long time since I have bought a gadget that I fell in love with completely and utterly. The iPhone came close but didn't quite do it thanks to the lousy Safari browser, and it's insanely high price; computers stopped being things of beauty years ago, becoming just functional devices; and even the personal video recorder (my Sky+ box) which revolutionized the way I watch TV is still just a piece of useful kit rather than something to drool over.

But now I have bought myself a Kindle, and fallen in love all over again.

The Kindle is Amazon's e-book reader. It's the size of a paperback book, slightly thinner, a little bit heavier. It uses an e-ink screen which is incredibly restful on the eye - just like reading a real book made from paper. In fact, it's got advantages over dead tree books because you can change the font size to suit your eyesight, and the way you turn a page by pressing a button is actually easier than turning over the page in a book (once you get used to it).

Of course, it's not absolutely perfect. A few niggles: there's a little controller that you use to make menu selections, which I find too small and too close to other buttons, so it's easy to hit the wrong thing. I'm used to touch screens now so I keep wanting to select the book I want to read by touching it with my finger.

But once I am actually reading a book, I forget all about the technology I am using, and get lost in the story - just as I always have done. This is a sign that the interface works.

I still have an issue with the price of books for the Kindle. I find it outrageous that they are only a few pounds (or dollars) cheaper than the physical version, when there are no printing, storage or distribution costs involved.

I wish there was an easy way to take all of my vast library which overflows from my bookshelves into untidy piles on the floor, and digitize everything, in the way that I ripped all my CDs into mp3 files.

But I have found a number of sources for free e-books, including the wonderful Baen free library where you can download a great range of science fiction books. Baen also supply CDs with some of their hardbacks containing the authors' backlists - some of my favorite authors.

This year, the Kindle has suddenly taken off, with sales of e-books overtaking paper books for the first time, and I am sure many more people will be receiving one in their Christmas stockings at the end of the year. I hope they love it as much as I do.

Disclaimer: as you will know from last week's Star, I am about to start a new job which will involve publishing e-books. That's why I bought a Kindle now. But that doesn't stop me from loving the device on a personal level, too.

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