Why I do not yet own an e-book reader

http://wmbriggs.com/blog/2009/03/12/why-i-do-not-yet-own-an-e-book-reader/ ^ | William Briggs

[mattstat]

Clever readers will have noticed the modifier yet. Because it seems inevitable that someday we will be forced to own one.

Plenty of reviews of the two main readers exist: Sony’s e-reader and Amazon’s Kindle2. But these reviews miss two essential points.

The first is standard creep. My ma loves Guys and Dolls and originally bought the movie on Video Disk. Remember those? They were like record players for television. We had Star Wars, too.

But Video Disk players became obsolescent fast, so my ma bought another version on Beta tape. Yes, I swear this is true. We all know what happened here: she eventually bought on VHS.

The small, weary voice of my father just kept her from buying the movie again on Laser Disc. But she has since acquired a DVD version. I suppose Blue Ray is next.

Same movie, six implementations—so far. Each shift in technology requires a similar shift of funds from our bank accounts.

Here is the problem with e-books...

[Pietro]

".....going from room to room and finding books everywhere"

Good for you, my home, although not a Victorian, is the same way w/ books everywhere.

[meowmeow]

I buy and read a bunch of books.
My friend in PA buys and reads a bunch of books.
We get together and swap stacks of books and read all those.
Then I take the stack to work and offer them up to my reading pals. The stack is usually gone within 20 minutes.
They do the same thing throughout the year so I get books that way.
I add those to the stack for my friend in PA.
She passes the ones from me on to her other reading friends...

A good book travels far and provides enjoyment for many.

I just can't imagine that with a kindle.