(N.B. This Post has become almost quaint in the short span of ten years!)
A recent visit to our original hometown Sydney, to celebrate my dear wife's 70th Birthday, gave rise to this post.
We had the privilege of staying in my Brother-in-Law's Unit
overlooking Centennial Park and of enjoying his very generous
hospitality over a number of days. He is not daunted by technology ( I
am, late in life, trying to hone my powers of understatement).
As a consequence we had the chance to check out and use the latest
"stuff". He is an Apple Afficionado so the I Phone was there - but he
has demonstrated its wonders on previous occasions. He also has the I
Pad ( a gift from a class of grateful students!) and the Amazon 3G
Kindle.As it happens, I have had some previous introduction to E Readers
at Maz and Nathan's place at Christmas , when Nathan's Mum showed us
her Sony Reader. Now I had an opportunity to try I Pad and Kindle at my
leisure. The I Pad shines for its design, capacities and functionality -
it is remarkably intuitive to use . But, the fact that it is also very
pricey ( as is the I Phone) means that for me it is beyond even hope -
so away with Apple dreams. But the Kindle , at $189 , is well within
planning possibility.It is a remarkable unit-well-designed, handy in
size, huge in capacity(thousands of books), search capability and note
taking capability plus a memory for which page you have reached in each
book. With downloads quite cheap and a huge range of new and classic
titles available - many at token prices, it is an ideal tool ,
especially for research. It will be invaluable when I am researching
FOUNDATION and doing webposts on the Blogs. I have made a start by
downloading Kindle for PC on my trusty Notebook - so I can begin
building my E Library here - it can then be easily and freely
transferred to up to 5 devices including the Kindle proper or a suitable
phone (hmmmmm........ Rob's "Wildfire" ? .....No, she wouldn't let me
near it!!) In time, I can build up a solid Religious and History
Classics Library at very little cost and have it at hand when I am
preparing posts. Fabulous for travel reading and research if I ever get
the chance again - surely the weekly "investment Certificates" will
ultimately come good!
Just as I Pods and their imitators have destroyed the CD industry and
Music Shops are collapsing into memory - incredible as it might seem -
that institution of the last four centuries at least, the Bookshop,
let alone the books they sell, seems to be becoming an "endangered
species"( Ugh! I hate that phrase and all the phoney "last remaining
whatevers" that usually attend it). I know, I know, like me, many will
say : "Nothing will replace the feel of a book" or "no-one wants to curl
up with an E Reader"etc. Don't bet on it ! Remember that these changes
are being driven by the responses of a generation or three far more
adept than people of my own vintage and already making their weight felt
in the collapse of newspaper readership. Hang on tight - we are on a
very bumpy ride on runaway technology. The best we can do, is to make
use of it for our own purposes and pray that neither we nor ours, or our
interests get in its way! It does not take prisoners!
Anyway, my interest has really been Kindled !!
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