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A few years ago I wrote often about my experiences with electronic books. I totally embraced ebooks shortly after Amazon announced the first Kindle and I now never buy physical books, other than the odd photographic tome. In fact, I now find the experience of handling and reading newspapers (inky fingers.) and books positively abhorrent. Now I know that many of you will disagree on this, so let’s agree to differ.
There will probably always be a place for physical books, but I suspect that the vast majority of novels and general fodder will eventually be consumed in ebook form. It's only a matter of time now. Kindle, I’ve mentioned, but this is only the most well-known of reading systems. I’ve tried others, including Apple’s iBooks, but I just find the Amazon system to be generally more satisfactory. It’s important, I think, to choose one platform which, eventually, becomes the digital equivalent of the home bookcase. And on more than one occasion the Kindle bookstore has prevented me from buying something I’d already read years ago.
It happens, but I wouldn't be able to rely on this if I used several different platforms. Love-hate Despite my fondness for the Amazon ebook ecosystem, I’ve had a love-hate relationship with the various Kindle devices, even the current Kindle Paperwhite which is a superb stand-alone book reader.
I much prefer reading on my smartphone (the iPhone 7 Plus, in particular, is perfectly adequate for reading) or tablet. And I insist that all my reading platforms have cellular connection so that Kindle's Whispersync can work as intended. I find that this works much more efficiently between the phone, tablet and Mac (I often enjoy reading a book in double-page spread format on my 27in iMac) than when trying to combine Kindles and other devices. Effective and seamless synchronisation between is vital if you are going to really enjoy the reading experience. Perhaps one of the biggest attractions of ebooks for me is the system’s minimalism. From my phone I have access to every book I have purchased in the past seven or eight years. I have my full library in my pocket at all times.
This is especially handy when travelling. In the old days I would pack my current book, perhaps half read, plus a few more to keep me busy during the vacation. All of this means weight, weight which I am now spared.
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About the only place ebook readers are not in their element is on the beach or by the pool. IPhones and iPads don’t mix with water or sand. The Kindle Paperwhite is somewhat better, less likely to be invaded, but it is still vulnerable. Kindle Oasis. So the latest Kindle, the Oasis, which is waterproof, could be worth the money if you love reading on the beach sunbed. It has a larger 7in display, featuring the crisp black on white liquid crystal technology which requires little power and ensures a long battery life of days rather than hours as on a smartphone or tablet. It’s the most advanced Kindle reader yet.
I must say, however, that I was surprised at the £229 price tag for Kindle's latest — this is getting into smartphone and tablet territory and the Kindle is no longer the cheap option. Since I'm not a beach fan I think I'll miss on this one. I’ve also dabbled with (now also an Amazon company) which work in sync with many Kindle books, on the new Oasis but also on most smartphones and tablets. I have never been a big fan of audio books, certainly not when they came in cassette format, but the latest electronic format is very convenient. In conjunction with a device such as the Oasis or iPhone, the audio books run alongside the written text and you can switch from one to the other instantly. This is very convenient on many occasions — when you want to rest your eyes and just listen, or when travelling by car. The important thing is that you never lose your place in the book whether reading or listening.
Temptation If they were free, I’d have an audio version of all my books. But, sadly, they aren’t. I was tempted by a Kindle offer to buy an Audible version of a book I’d purchased for an additional £2.99. This sounded like good value, so I added an audio book to the next few purchases from Amazon. I was drawn in, just as Amazon intended. Then the special offer went up to £3.99 but I still bought. Then it was a £1 extra every time.
I stopped at £4.99 and am back to reading without the convenient audio supplement. It’s a pity, but audio books are expensive, I suppose necessarily so because of the effort involved. Buying books at full price from Audible can cost over £20 and that’s more than I am willing to pay as long as I am still able to read. If I couldn’t it would be a different matter. While I like the ability to switch back and forth between the written and spoken word, there are limits. Nothing raises the hackles as much as a discussion on the merits of electronic versus traditional books. You are either in one camp or the other and few readers can accept that it is a matter of choice and nothing more.
Stick to your physical books if you wish, there’s nothing to stop you, not even price when ebooks are subject to tax while printed books are not. But the ebook genie is now well and truly out of the bottle. For more and more people it is now becoming the normal way to read a book. It is certainly more convenient, as I can attest. Comments.
As an avid ebook reader I welcome Apple's announcement of the iBook Store and the iBooks application for the iPad. Many have suggested that the iPad will kill Amazon's Kindle. In the long term it could kill the physical Kindle, or force Amazon into a search for a reader to match the iPad. But Amazon, in particular, is probably more concerned with providing content rather than hardware. Because of this, the iPad is going to be good news for Amazon and the Kindle ecosystem. Already we have the Kindle app for the iPhone and I have purchased and read a number of novels on the little screen. Buying from the Kindle store is just as easy and seamless as getting a track from iTunes.
And Kindle editions are generally cheaper than equivalent books from Sony's UK partner, Waterstones. Just this week I downloaded Stieg Larsson's The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo for under £4.25, including tax and electronic shipping direct to my phone. By the time the iPad appears we will have a Kindle app for the larger format, so I can read my current iPhone-only books on the new LED screen.
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And, of course, my current page will be remembered by both iPhone and iPad when I switch machines. Amazon already have a Kindle app for Windows and the Mac desktop version is due soon. So Amazon is not relying solely on Kindle owners for their income. Similarly, Apple's new iBook store should work in the same way. There will almost certainly be Mac desktop and iPhone/iPod Touch applications with similar synchronisation to that used by the Kindle system. It will be no hardship to have both iBooks and Kindle apps resident on the iPad (or iPhone) and it gives consumers the chance to pick and choose the best deals.
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Where does this lead the current No. 2 in ebook readers, the Sony PRS? High and dry, I suspect, unless Sony get smart and introduce Sony Reader apps for iPhone, iPad, Android and other platforms. Unfortunately for Sony, they are stuck in the hardware business unless they launch a bookstore to challenge Apple or Amazon. They therefore have little incentive to launch apps for other hardware platforms.
That would be like turkeys voting for Christmas. The current crop of e-ink readers have served us well, but they remain a one-horse act with many disadvantages, including lack of speed, absence of colour and poor contrast, particularly in low-light conditions. So far I have bought 60 books for the Sony but I have no confidence that I will eventually be able to read them on the iPad or other devices, despite the fact that they are in epub format. These restrictions annoy users and the market will inevitably shift towards the two major ebook ecosystems-Apple and Amazon-with the knowledge that books can be read on many platforms. Comments Categories.