I am not a gadget person. Well, if I were independently wealthy, perhaps I might be more of a gadget person. Circumstances are such, though, that I will not be the first to run out and buy the newest small, non-essential, electronic device. No chumbys, no iPhones, not even a Macbook Pro. Yet.
It might surprise you, as it surprised me, to learn that the only device that has sparked an acquisitive interest is Amazon's new Kindle eBook reader.
It's not that the Kindle is attractive; from the photos, it isn't. The reading face seems rather small for a book–not to mention a little on the dull, gray side. There is something, though, with the idea of having 200 plus books on one small device that compensates for the lackluster appearance.
It is too expensive, but I've noticed that several older books can be bought for five or six dollars, which evens out the cost. It is proprietary, but PDFs and books at the Gutenberg Project can be uploaded to the device, so it's closed one way, not two.
What about that existing library of books? People would have to buy electronic versions of existing hard copies. A good question, especially for anyone who has invested in several hundred books. But I no longer have such a library. When I moved out of California and finally had to sell all my stored items, included among the items were all but a few of my books. I had gone back to San Francisco to try to salvage a few books and other personal items, but the guys who packed the storage unit efficiently packed all of the boxes at the bottom and all of the furniture on top. I could not move the larger items to get at the boxes, so other than a few books in a small box at the front of the unit, I lost my entire library.
You can see why the Kindle would have such appeal to me. To many people, really. We're this generation's gypsies, modern day vagabonds; not really at home anywhere. Or maybe half at home everywhere. We can store all of our photos and our writing on laptops; movies on a portable hard drive; our music on a device no bigger than a deck of cards. Now we can do the same with our books, and never have to leave our cherished libraries behind, ever again.
Maybe someday if that utility computing that Nick Carr waxes so ecstatically about in his new book really takes off, all I'll really need is my laptop, a spare pair of jeans and underwear, and an air mattress–becoming a new century hippie. A wired hippie, with Seattle Best latte in hand, sandaled feet leaving digital footprints wherever I go.
