The Kindle is not my first ebook reader. Oh so many years ago when my job was to track down all the latest and greatest technology, I came across a company that wrote the software to convert books to several reader's of the time -- one of them being the Rocket ebook. I had to have one.
Rocket eBook - Gemstar eBook Group Limited - Planet eBook If you are the least bit interested, you can read the short history of the Rocket, which seemed like it was going to shoot into the world with a great burst of promise. I spent a lot of money on it a lot of years ago -- because I believed. I don't think I was ever able to purchase anything current -- though I remained hopeful that one day it would catch on. And you can still purchase the next generation of the Rocket -- but I can't seem to track down much in the way of content that would be appealing to the masses.
Which is why I decided that a reader attached to Amazon.com might just make it! It's not for everyone -- and it is surely for the devoted reader who needs a book YESTERDAY because they just have to, no questions asked. And I was happy as a little clam reading my book when I finished it and wondered if I could give the $10 book I'd purchased yesterday to my daughter, who also received a Kindle for Christmas.
And the only way you can share books is to have the same account. And right now we have separate accounts. And I'm not too sure I want the same one because that means it has to go on one credit card ... and gee, I wonder whose that would be! But we'll have to do that, if we still can (we have both registered our Kindles to our accounts, I haven't figured out if we can change hers yet) because isn't sharing books what you're supposed to do? I read awfully fast and I would hate to think that only **I ** will be the only one reaping the pleasures of a book, no matter what the medium.
I did an Internet search hoping that someone had figured out a way around this blasphemy, but to no avail. It appears that avid readers are not necessarily evil hackers. Harumph.
I had to laugh when last night my father was saying that these ebooks would put printed books out of business. I tried to explain that these "ebooks" have been around for years -- like ten plus years -- and I hardly believe that our rising unemployment rate is due to a lack of book printing. They are just like phones -- how many people still have land line phones in their homes on top of every family member owning a cell phone?
Exactly. We hold on to old technology like the dickens -- we are suspect of it -- we expect it to fail the moment we trust it. I discarded ebook technology for years and years because it did fail me. I was sick of reading third-rate novels that were the only thing available (along with the Classics, but come on, how many Classics can you read in a given year?) and so I returned to printed books without a second glance.
But I love technology -- I always have. The Kindle is the same technology as the Rocket, only slightly improved. And truly, it's only slightly. The print is better, but I must admit I miss the backlight of my Rocket ereader which allowed me to read in bed with no lights. True, it is like reading a computer screen, but I only did it occasionally. What the Rocket lacked at the time was a behemoth like Amazon to back it up: and that is the ONLY reason I am back in the ebook saddle.
But I am ticked off by this lack of book sharing and I am highly suspect of their small teeny tiny print that says that while their Whispernet technology is free today and maybe tomorrow, they can begin charging for it any time they damn wish.
Which we all knows means as soon as they have enough people on board. ::::::::heavy sigh:::::::
My father has the Sony eReader and that seems to have a better design -- the buttons to lead you here and there are smaller so you don't keep hitting them by accident -- which I have done countless times with the Kindle. But the con on that one is that it doesn't have the ability to download books on its own -- it must be hooked to a computer. Which, as we discovered last night, is easier said than done because his Norton Security kept blocking the site and I had to disarm that, but couldn't do it permanently without uninstalling it, which was a whole HELL OF A LOT MORE HASSLE THAN I FELT LIKE DEALING with, because I was at my sister's for dinner. Not a pain in the ass fix another Bill Gates headache. (I blame everything on Bill Gates, because he is a pain in my ass and always has been!)
Oh, the columns I used to write ranting and writing about how he ruined EVERYTHING. I should write a column on what our world would be like without Bill Gates. I'll tell you this, computers would work for the people, instead of for his moronic machine. Windows schmindows -- piece of crap, always was, always has been.
But I digress.
::::::::::::::::deep cleansing breathes, visualizing no Bill Gates in this Universe::::::::::::::::::::::::
And so ... an old technology peeks out from behind the shroud of obscurity and thanks to Ms. Oprah, the whole world wants a Kindle and the Power of the O strikes again.
Whatever.
I just want to hand off the book I just read to my daughter.
Does everything have to be so ... proprietary? I bought the damn book, it is MINE, and now I should be allowed to share it.
Don't you agree?
No comments:
Post a Comment