What I Don't Want For Christmas...
... not that it's even a chance of showing up under my tree, but I'm not interested at ALL in getting myself a Kindle. Yes, I know that thanks to Oprah showing hers off on her show that the hits to the Amazon site have gone up like crazy and everyone's taking advantage of the saving to pay "only" three hundred dollars *cough* for this ebook reader, but...
... not for me.
why?
well, there's the usual reasons I dislike what's on the market right now as far as ebook readers go - no color, no single format or you end up locked into their own format (Kindle especially!) and not very user-friendly as far as transferring the files I have now.
but the bigger one, and the one that I'm surprised more Americans aren't freaking out about - the record keeping.
Jeff B. pointed out on Oprah that Amazon not only will sell you the Kindle ebook of your choice but they also keep an archive of EVERY book you've ordered in case you lose the Kindle. So you can download them all over again for free.
sounds good, eh?
stop. Think. Think again.
as it is now I get plenty of spam from Amazon on what I purchase from them - toys, CD, books - the usual "If you like THIS then you'll love THIS" type of emails.
do I really, *really* want Amazon to know EVERYTHING I've downloaded onto my Kindle and am reading? The smut, the romance, the nonfiction, the magazines, the daily newspapers, the puzzle books, the audiobooks, the MP3's... you see where I'm going here.
I just find it ironic that while people are racing around condemning the government for tracking their library borrowing habits that they're blissfully handing over so much info to Amazon. Think about it.
meanwhile, I'm still waiting for the ebook reader under $100 that does color and has a user-friendly format. Hopefully I'll see it in my lifetime.
:(
... not for me.
why?
well, there's the usual reasons I dislike what's on the market right now as far as ebook readers go - no color, no single format or you end up locked into their own format (Kindle especially!) and not very user-friendly as far as transferring the files I have now.
but the bigger one, and the one that I'm surprised more Americans aren't freaking out about - the record keeping.
Jeff B. pointed out on Oprah that Amazon not only will sell you the Kindle ebook of your choice but they also keep an archive of EVERY book you've ordered in case you lose the Kindle. So you can download them all over again for free.
sounds good, eh?
stop. Think. Think again.
as it is now I get plenty of spam from Amazon on what I purchase from them - toys, CD, books - the usual "If you like THIS then you'll love THIS" type of emails.
do I really, *really* want Amazon to know EVERYTHING I've downloaded onto my Kindle and am reading? The smut, the romance, the nonfiction, the magazines, the daily newspapers, the puzzle books, the audiobooks, the MP3's... you see where I'm going here.
I just find it ironic that while people are racing around condemning the government for tracking their library borrowing habits that they're blissfully handing over so much info to Amazon. Think about it.
meanwhile, I'm still waiting for the ebook reader under $100 that does color and has a user-friendly format. Hopefully I'll see it in my lifetime.
:(