Having recently hit a milestone birthday (I'm not saying which one), and, being a present whore, the wife-wifey was forced to dole out some serious cash. One of the items considered was Amazon's Kindle. The Kindle is a fancy little doohickey. It uses some sort of--screw that, I'll just steal some words from their site:
- Revolutionary electronic-paper display provides a sharp, high-resolution screen that looks and reads like real paper.
- Simple to use: no computer, no cables, no syncing.
- Wireless connectivity enables you to shop the Kindle Store directly from your Kindle—whether you’re in the back of a taxi, at the airport, or in bed.
- Buy a book and it is auto-delivered wirelessly in less than one minute.
- More than 115,000 books available, including more than 100 of 112 current New York Times® Best Sellers.
- New York Times® Best Sellers and New Releases $9.99, unless marked otherwise.
- Free book samples. Download and read first chapters for free before you decide to buy.
- Top U.S. newspapers including The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and Washington Post; top magazines including TIME, Atlantic Monthly, and Forbes—all auto-delivered wirelessly.
- Top international newspapers from France, Germany, and Ireland; Le Monde, Frankfurter Allgemeine, and The Irish Times—all auto-delivered wirelessly.
- More than 300 top blogs from the worlds of business, technology, sports, entertainment, and politics, including BoingBoing, Slashdot, TechCrunch, ESPN's Bill Simmons, The Onion, Michelle Malkin, and The Huffington Post—all updated wirelessly throughout the day.
- Lighter and thinner than a typical paperback; weighs only 10.3 ounces.
- Holds over 200 titles.
- Long battery life. Leave wireless on and recharge approximately every other day. Turn wireless off and read for a week or more before recharging. Fully recharges in 2 hours.
- Unlike WiFi, Kindle utilizes the same high-speed data network (EVDO) as advanced cell phones—so you never have to locate a hotspot.
- No monthly wireless bills, service plans, or commitments—we take care of the wireless delivery so you can simply click, buy, and read.
- Includes free wireless access to the planet's most exhaustive and up-to-date encyclopedia—Wikipedia.org.
- Email your Word documents and pictures (.JPG, .GIF, .BMP, .PNG) to Kindle for easy on-the-go viewing.
So, yeah, that all sounds pretty damn cool. But, several factors (and not, shockingly, the $400 price tag) made me decide in the negative: 1. I have no problem paying for stuff (just ask the Boss), but I think $10 per book without any actual ownership--ie., I can't share them with friends or print them or modify them or whatevah--is flatout ridunkulous. 2. The thing is in black&white, which, while aesthetically pleasing, actually limits the amount of things you can read, especially magazines and intrablogs. 3. No freakin' PDFs? Are you amazonians insane? It's only the most popular document format in the world. 4. And finally, I'm holdin' out for the mac reader. I know, I know, my transition to the world of mac has not gone smoothly, but when the appelites hip themselves to how many units Amazon is shifting of their un-userfriendly and UGLY device, you just know that they'll be creating the iBook or iReader or some sort of iSomething with a quickness.
In preparation for the inevitable gizmo to come, I recently signed up with wowio. What is wowio, you ask? Well, for absolutely nothing you get to download free ebooks. Legally. For bupkis. All you need is a non-anynomous email address (which may pose a problem to some, I know I had to use the Trouble & Strife's work email to join.) That's it. The catch--and you knew there had to be one of those--is that you can only download three books a day for a maximum of thirty in one calendar month. These numbers may lessen if they're having a busy month, but I can't begrudge them that. The other thing I can't begrudge them is the fact that the books are "sponsored" which means that there's usually a couple of pages of ads before the actual book starts. Small price to pay (no pun intended)(well, actually it was.) I have no desire to read ebooks on my computer, and I bought a tablet pc to read my comics, but how can you refuse gratis? Especially when you factor in how cool it is to have your library together before the iThingamagig comes out. My stash so far, with another 50 books in the queue:
A Miscellany of Britain - Tom O'MearaIn preparation for the inevitable gizmo to come, I recently signed up with wowio. What is wowio, you ask? Well, for absolutely nothing you get to download free ebooks. Legally. For bupkis. All you need is a non-anynomous email address (which may pose a problem to some, I know I had to use the Trouble & Strife's work email to join.) That's it. The catch--and you knew there had to be one of those--is that you can only download three books a day for a maximum of thirty in one calendar month. These numbers may lessen if they're having a busy month, but I can't begrudge them that. The other thing I can't begrudge them is the fact that the books are "sponsored" which means that there's usually a couple of pages of ads before the actual book starts. Small price to pay (no pun intended)(well, actually it was.) I have no desire to read ebooks on my computer, and I bought a tablet pc to read my comics, but how can you refuse gratis? Especially when you factor in how cool it is to have your library together before the iThingamagig comes out. My stash so far, with another 50 books in the queue:
Acts of God - Ted Steinberg
American Original: A Life of Will Rogers - Ray Robinson
Are We Hardwired - William Clark & Michael Grunstein
Behind The Scenes Baseball - Doug Decatur
Belong - Jennifer Morton
Bittersweet - Peter Macinnis
Cat's Cradle - Kurt Vonnegut
Consider Her Ways - Frederick Phillip Grove
Curse & Berate in 69 Languages - R.V. Branham
Down the Mysterly River - Bill Willingham
Evolution as Religion - Mary Midgley
Faces In The Clouds - Stewart Elliott Guthrie
Faith In Science - Mark Richardson & Gordy Slack
Guantanamo - Dorothea Dieckmann
Land of a Thousand Eyes - Peter Olszewski
Land of War Elephants - Mathew Wilson
Oh Pure and Radiant Heart - Lydia Millet
Run Like You Stole Something - Damian Farrow & Justin Kemp
Scorch - A.D. Nauman
Size Matters - Laksmi Bhaskaran
The Book of Numbers - Tim Glynne-Jones
The New Ballgame - Glenn Guzzo
The Original Mermaid - Emily Gibson w/ Barbara Firth
The Risk in Being Alive - Brian Hancock
Year of the Hare - Mark Finn
I'm not saying that wowio is the Library of Congress, but they got a pretty good selection in a variety of subjects, and it's easy as pie to use. Hell, there's even a bunch of classics, so all y'all can get your cannon on. Oh, did I mention it is free?
2 comments:
While I appreciate your enthusiasm for wowio (hate the name), I could never imagine myself signing up for such a convenience. I love books. This is not the same as the love of reading. I'm talking about turning the page by hand. Are the pages thick and cottony or must I lick my thumb before moving on? Is the print bold and demand attention or does it demurely seduce the eye? Is the paper flecked with miniscule specks of coal? Are the pages so crisp that by books end the index finger is riddled with paper cuts? Some things simply cannot be more perfect than they've been for centuries. The book is one.
By the way, your photo discloses with much fanfare and aplomb the undisclosed milestone birthday you've recently celebrated. I'm sure you realize this. Cheers!
Hey, did you know you already had access to downloading free ebooks (& audio books, if you're a fan) with your valid library card? Your local library (website) aims to please.
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