When Amazon came out with the Kindle, a great many people had differing views towards it, and wondered whether or not society was ready for one or not. Avid technology buffs will say that this device is a superb contraction that allows one to condense materials and have a constant collection of 1,500 books on you at once; plus, one cannot argue that you can download books, magazines and newspapers in under 60 seconds to have at your disposal. The Kindle is essentially reinventing the way that book worms scrounge through stories and absorb information. In a sense, this mechanism should up the rates of reading everywhere because of its immediate retrieval and endless library.
By Stephanie Wytovich
Staff Writer
When Amazon came out with the Kindle, a great many people had differing views towards it, and wondered whether or not society was ready for one or not. Avid technology buffs will say that this device is a superb contraction that allows one to condense materials and have a constant collection of 1,500 books on you at once; plus, one cannot argue that you can download books, magazines and newspapers in under 60 seconds to have at your disposal. The Kindle is essentially reinventing the way that book worms scrounge through stories and absorb information. In a sense, this mechanism should up the rates of reading everywhere because of its immediate retrieval and endless library.
According to Amazon.com, the Kindle is slightly over 1/3 of an inch thick and weighs about 10.2 ounces. With its paper like display, it provides a no glare guarantee, and even includes a text-to-speech option so you can be read to; this is great for traveling because it condenses your weight load of books, and you can just slide in your headphones if you don’t quite feel like reading when your thousands of feet in the air. Even though this is a mortal device and will die eventually if not charged, the Kindle 2 can last up to a week without charging (depending on how often and for how long you use it), which is a great improvement of the four day battery life of the first model.
I purchased one a few months ago, and I must admit that I fell in love with it at first sight. While I’m still greatly attached to the bound book, my Kindle has provided me with a great amount of advantages, both financially and economically. Not only is the Kindle better for the environment, since it plays along with the Go Green! Movement, but it also costs a great deal less to download something on my Kindle, than to drive to the bookstore and buy it; and as an English Major, buying books is year round duty.
Another advantage, is that you can download previews to items that you are interested in buying. For instance, I was looking at Witches and Wizards by James Patterson, and I was able to download the first couple chapters to see if it was something that I was interested in. This feature alone has saved me quite a few times, and with over 400,000 books to choose from, you need to know what you’re getting into!
The cost for a Kindle is around $300, and while that seems a little steep at first, ask yourself how many books you have lying around the house and/or your dorm room. How much money did you pay for your books this semester? Buying one Kindle would probably cut the cost of your book expenses down by at least half. You can still highlight passages, and take notes, plus increase or decrease the images, and change the font size for easier reading. I understand that some people don’t want to leave the security of their bound book behind, but I have found the Kindle to be a great success for both literary and academic success, and I would recommend any avid reader or writer to invest in one.