Trying out the tumblr iPhone app. Seems to work pretty well
To Kindle or not to Kindle
As someone who reads a lot and likes to travel, not to mention that I’m fond of gadgets, I’ve been thinking about buying an e-reader for years. Which means I was happy to hear that the Kindle is finally made available outside of the US. Especially since I was pretty disappointed when that still hadn’t happened when the second version was released earlier this year. Of course, that leads to the question whether I should buy it or not.
The biggest reason to do so is of course the ease with which I can buy books, wherever I am and whenever I want without needing a laptop. The fact that Amazon has a pretty extensive list of available books that continues to grow isn’t something to sneeze at either.
The main negative point is, and will always be, DRM. Unfortunately, that is something every digital bookstore has and that I don’t see changing within the coming decade. I can also use Stanza to put non-DRM’ed books from (among others) Project Gutenberg on the Kindle, so at least it’s only for the books I actually buy. Besides, if I’m stuck with one company for buying my digital books I’d prefer it to be the company where I buy most of my regular books anyway.
The other negative point would be the whole 1984 debacle. Unfortunately the other interesting readers are the new ones from Sony and I haven’t exactly been a fan of that company since they were so nice to provide rootkits for free with their products.
In the days since the announcement I’ve done a lot of internal debating, in which the above points, but also others, influenced my final decision. I have come to the conclusion that, for me at least, Whispernet (which is what Amazon calls the ability to download books straight to the Kindle) is the main reason for me to go for the Kindle. I’ll place my order tonight and hope that I’ll receive it soon after Amazon starts sending them out to customers on the 19th.
