FAMILYFANS Books & Comics

AMAZON KINDLE E-READER

(Amazon.com)

Reader Appeal: All Ages

Genre: Digital Books

Let me start with a few disclaimers.

First, I’m not an early adopter. For most of my life I’ve let other people experience the bleeding end of new technologies before I’ve jumped into the fray. I was slow to make the move from 8-track to cassette and even slower to that newfangled “Compact Disc” format. It was half-past 2007 before I finally got a phone with a built-in MP3 player…and I still haven’t completely figured out how to download music into it. Besides, I’m notoriously tight with my money. I’ve usually found ways to use the library or borrowed books to meet my voracious reading needs.

But I am an avid reader. I typically plow through at least a book a week, and on vacation more like a book a day.

I wanted you to know these things before I told you that, yes, I was deeply in the crowd of early adopters on the first day when Amazon.com released its new electronic reader, called the Kindle. I got my Kindle three weeks ago, and that means the last three weeks of my life I’ve felt like a kid in a candy store!

I am delighted with the intuitive usability of this device. I feel confident that it will revolutionize the way publishers deliver content – and the way readers will consume it. Let me offer my opinion of the merits of books versus the Kindle.

PRICE – Advantage Kindle

At $400 for a Kindle you’re probably thinking I’m nuts. Let me run through the numbers with you. The Amazon Kindle provides wireless internet access WITHOUT additional monthly subscriber fees. New release titles are sold for $9.99 on the Kindle. Assuming I would normally buy a new release for $15 on Amazon, CBD, or at Sam's Club, that means I’ll pay for my device in a year and a half at my reading pace. If you also subscribe to magazines or national newspapers, you’ll find per issue savings of at least fifty cents that will help you to see the long-term price advantage of the Kindle over traditional print mediums.

FUNCTIONALITY – Advantage Kindle

The amazing search functionality of the Kindle gives it a significant advantage over a traditional book. I can search for a word or phrase, not just in the book I’m reading, or in any book I’ve downloaded to my Kindle, but anywhere online. The Kindle automatically bookmarks the page I stopped reading on (finally no more scraps or paper or toilet paper or creased dust jackets to hold my place). The Kindle also allows me to highlight or take notes on anything I’m reading. And it provides the option of audio-book usage with a headphone jack in case you don’t want to disturb your neighbor on the train or plain ride.

PORTABILITY – Advantage Kindle

Kindle is as light as a trade paperback, but can store the equivalent of 300 books. In addition, any title you purchase can be archived at Amazon for recall to your device at a later date. That means I’ll finally be able to pack my pleasure reading for a long vacation all on one device – and that one device will easily fit in my carryon luggage rather than pushing my checked bag dangerously close to the 50-pound weight limit.

ECO-FRIENDLY – Advantage Kindle

While it does have a battery that requires electricity to recharge, the Kindle will translate to more trees in forests rather than chopped, shredded, pressed and bound into books.

BATHTUB & POOLSIDE FUNCTIONALITY – Advantage Book

I went on my first snowboarding adventure recently and my aching muscles demanded a hot bath afterward. When I jumped into the tub to soak, I didn’t even consider risking my Kindle. At $15, a hard copy of a Ted Dekker book was a safer gamble for bathtub reading. Although the revolutionary electronic ink screen of the Kindle is very readable in bright sun, I’m not sure I’ll drag it along to the beach or poolside where a big wave could wipe out my $400 device. I know from a recent misadventure involving my cell phone and a washing machine that electronic devices and water don’t play well together.

As you can see, the Kindle beats the traditional book in the categories I selected. Even though electronic readers have been around for a decade or more, I believe the Kindle is the device that will revolutionize reading. It really is as radical to the book industry as the iPod was to the music industry.

I love my new Amazon Kindle and I believe many other avid readers will soon join the ranks of Kindle-ites.

FAMILYFANS RATING: A

--Guest Reviewer, Dave Thornton, lives in Colorado with his wife and four kids. He works as Director of Church Volunteer Central and, in addition to his love of reading, loves to travel.

Note: All book or comics-related graphics in this column are standard publicity/promotional shots and are owned by their respective publisher.