Have you guys seen this latest product from Amazon, Kindle: New Wireless Reading Device? I stumbled upon it last week while doing some online shopping and am not very excited about it. I know that we're living in a very techie age right now, but the thought of paper and ink books being moved to the electronic world makes me sad.
One of my greatest treats is to wander around and get lost in a bookstore, finding new books to add to my ever-growing "must read" list. There is something so soothing about browsing through books, taking in the jacket design, reading the inside or back cover synopsis, thumbing through the pages... it is something that for me, cannot be replaced by an electronic reading device.
I'm sure the device will be a godsend for travelers. Already airport bookstores understand that travelers don't want to be stuck lugging heavy books around after they've read them and so "Read and Return" programs are becoming commonplace. The next logical step, I guess, is to move books into the electronic sector allowing a traveler to simply purchase and download a book to a device that can store many books at once, much in the way the ipod and mp3 players revolutionized the way music can be stored and carried. But for general reading, nothing in my mind, can replace holding a real book in your hands.
