Gudlyf's World

I have my moments of being a gadget geek … oh hell, I’m always a gadget geek, though the current economy hits this brand of geek pretty hard. Recently Amazon put out its upgraded Kindle product, Kindle 2, which I’d been eying since it was hinted at a while back. The Kindle 2 is an eBook reader — essentially, you can read just about any book you want on it without killing trees. Also, in case you’ve never seen it before, the display is nothing like a laptop or PDA screen — it actually has a a matte finish and eerily looks like you’re reading a piece of paper on an electronic device.

I tend to get my reading material these days via the local library, which is a plus because a) it’s free and b) it’s not contributing to another dead tree (do I sound like a smelly hippy yet?) The Kindle books cost money, but once you read the book there, that’s it — you can’t really share it or donate it to a library. However, you are saving trees.

That’s what I’m wondering here: is it better to not contribute to more paper products by using eBooks, or buying paper books so you have something to share with others, including libraries? This is sort-of the same issue I have with downloadable movies to own. If I have it on my hard drive in a format that’s not legal to burn to a DVD, I can’t share it with others or sell it later if I’m strapped for cash. Now that I think about it, it could mean the end of book/DVD/CD collectibles as we know it.

When the Kindle can allow renting or borrowing books for a limited time from libraries, then I’ll look into it a lot more seriously. Until then, I just won’t read — it’s overrated anyway.

Gizmodo has more on the Amazon Kindle issue with intellectual property that’s an interesting read and food for thought, if you’re considering purchasing a Kindle.