[Web4lib] Kindle

[Melora Norman]

I agree that Kindle sounds like a decent business travel companion: if I
were in and out of airports & wanting to be sure I had something handy
to read while unexpectedly stuck out on the tarmac for several hours,
Kindle would probably make a good toy for me.  My eyes tire quickly
while reading on computers, phones, and PDAs, and their batteries don't
last long enough.

Since the device doesn't interact at all with a computer, it does not
seem like a useful academic product.  Some of the ebooks I've purchased
for my PC are equally useless for the same reason--they are so locked
down, I can't even cut-and-paste a brief quote from them.  When it comes
right down to it, an ebook can be even less accessible than a paper
book--at least we can OCR printed paper!!

I'm leery of digital rights management software that causes a title to
*expire* so as to mimic a loan; it's a poor substitute for actually
being able to borrow a physical item which can easily be shared with
family, friends, and colleagues.  As long as lending books is a
significant social pastime, it will be hard to come up with a viable
substitute for a paper book.

Melora Ranney Norman, director
Quimby Library
Unity College
90 Quaker Hill Road
Unity, ME 04988
207.948.3131 x233
mnorman at unity.edu