Here it is – my first Kindle. A friend of mine brought it back from the USA for me – at the time, it cost 79 USD instead of the regular 99 USD.
It was the edition that includes adverts. When idle, the “normal” Kindle mostly shows neutral graphics with some reference to script images. With the “advert Kindle”, you mostly get notes about concerts, products, special bargains and the like in the idle state. In a way, this is quite inspiring, because truly American.
Other than this “advertising” there are no unpleasant effects. Should I still at some time in the future be fed up with this affusion, I can have it removed by paying 20 USD to Amazon online. However, that is not what I will do, because as it is, I learn a lot. It is quite fascinating to see how Amazon uses even the Kindle as a “tool for customer maintenance”.
I got it late in November. For Christmas, I gave some members of my family more Kindles. On the March “Blue Friday“, all employees of InterFace AG got one for the “technology advancement program”. And since then, we experiment using it at the enterprise.
And for myself, I can, now in May, say that, since Christmas, I have not read a single paper book. So it only took half a year…
To make up for it, I read many e-books on my Kindle. Wherever possible, I read books only on my Kindle these days, because it is far more comfortable reading than on paper. If the light is poor, I can set the “font” bigger, the letters will always be just right. I can look up words and much more. It simply gives a new quality to reading.
🙂 And I can even read under the blanket – see my P.S.
But my reading on the Kindle is not limited to Amazon books. You can easily also upload “free books”, for instance “Incommunicado” by Michael Reimon. And newspapers and all kinds of magazines, and of course, the IF blog or PDF files (see instruction – Anleitung).
So for me, the world is currently undergoing radical change. This time, I am really into avoiding paper in private life. I cancelled all subscriptions of dailies and magazines. Currently, they are still delivered. But I am already curious to see how matters will be when the stream of paper delivered to our house will have dwindled down.
More likely than not, there will then be a few Kindles and Android-Pads lying on our breakfast table. And I will inform myself about what happens in the world in the very current Zürcher and other dailies. As to the local and regional world, I can get whatever interests me from the many sources already available. Mind you, I can do so in all dimensions and without adverts (if necessary with adblock in all the media).
The stack of old paper that always grew so terribly will no longer exist in my household. And I assume that many of my contemporaries will act just like I.
To be sure, it is a pity to think of all those nice books going to waste – but there is nothing you can do about that. After all, innovation is mostly destruction. Some times, it is probably also creative.
RMD
(Translated by EG)
P.S.
A short time ago, Barbara gave me the original Kindle bag from Amazon. With integrated lighting but without its own battery. The casing takes the energy from the Kindle through two contacts at the underside of the device, thus shortening the long battery running times of the device (easily two weeks) only marginally. Great.
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