Wednesday, June 03, 2009

I won't lie: I think the Kindle is an overpriced piece of plastic dung that offers no clear advantage over the technology it wants so badly to replace and that I think Amazon is sort of a jerk-face for it. I mean, it's so transparently egotistic and money-grubbing, it makes my skin crawl. (It's like, the next time I buy a toilet, I'm not going to look for one with an electronic flusher just so I can have to limit myself to buying toilet paper compatible with my specific toilet model for the rest of my life.)

I'm not exactly being reasonable or rational here. Thank goodness Sherman Alexie is here to do some actual thinking about the subject:

I consider the Kindle elitist because it’s too expensive. I also consider it elitist because, right now, one company is making all the rules. I am also worried about Jeff Bezos’ comments about wanting to change the way we read books. That’s rather imperial. Having grown up poor, I’m also highly aware that there’s always a massive technology gap between rich and poor kids. I haven’t yet heard what Amazon plans to do about this potential technology gap. And that’s a vital question considering that Bezos wants to change the way we read books. How does he plan to change the way that poor kids read books? How does he plan to make sure that poor kids have access to the technology? Poor kids all over the country don’t have access to current textbooks, so will they have access to Kindle?


Like Alexie, I love my iPod and can't imagine life without it. At the same time, I can't imagine a life without real books.

(Do check out the rest of the interview--he says lots of really good stuff over there.)

(And, also, let's face it: it's only a matter of time before your e-books are ad supported. Crime and Punishment and BUY BUY BUY.)

6 comments:

Matt said...

Can I just say that I'm glad you're back at the blogging? And not have it turn into some weird bromance sort of thing? Give us a hug.

I think you're right about everything here (shock) and I love the toilet analogy. I don't know if I'm even opposed to e-books and their readers - it does have some appeal - but having one option, one money-grubbing "I'll put an end to paper books forever mwah hah hah"-backed option - to hell with that. Sad part is that Amazon is positioned to control things, and their doing it with plastic dung.

I hope Apple releases something that exposes the Kindle's crappiness, and soon.

Laird Hunt said...

Hey Darby and Matt,

I'm really interested in this as Coffee House is starting to release electronic editions along with their traditional releases. I read the Alexie clarifications over at Ed Champion's and now your comments. The one bit I'm still fuzzy on is why the Apple expensive gadgets are apparently more than okay and the Amazon one isn't. Wouldn't Apple take it all if it could? Is it this de facto benignity and the prettier products that make them seem like they're on our side (as long as you have Apple Care)? I'm no apologist for Amazon and the stranglehold they are cooking up, but I'm confused when the "but I love my Apple product" part comes in. Any thoughts would be appreciated.

Laird

Darby M. Dixon III said...

Laird,

First, from the Exquisite fan-boy, thanks for dropping by.

Second, from the blogger-type guy: the iPod is a well-designed device that opened up a new type of functionality to me, i.e. portability of a large amount of music. So there's a mix of practicality (it is beneficial to me to be able to pull up that one album I haven't listened to in a couple months when I get a song stuck in my head) (which, admittedly, other music-player devices could match) and sentiment (it's the nicest looking, most well-designed such device, in my opinion). The Kindle is ugly and though I will admit (in a later post) that there are things e-readers could do for me that I might like and that might tempt me to buy one for some day, this one is too expensive and too unattractive for too little real benefit. To me. In my opinion.

Darby M. Dixon III said...

Matt,

It feels good to be blogging again. Here's to hoping I don't muck it up by stopping again too soon.

Laird Hunt said...

hmmmm -- wrote a comment yesterday and it seems to have vanished. At any rate, thanks for the follow up thoughts: I see where you are coming from. My interest in the Kindle and Sony Reader has been e-ink: quite remarkable. I imagine the packaging of it will get better, the functionality more imaginative. One hopes.

Darby M. Dixon III said...

Laird, not sure what happened to the other comment, I never saw a notification for it. Ghost in the blogger shell?

I'm certain the technology will be perfected--it usually is--and I'm hoping that it all comes out for the best. I mean, drop the price to 25 bucks, add color, increase screen size, offer a low-cost complete desk reference set, don't completely replace paper with it--I'd buy that. But I wouldn't buy into the current state of affairs. I guess I've never been early adopter enough in any case.