Tuesday, September 2, 2008

Throw another e-book on the barbie!


I might have to change my tune. A while ago I wrote how I wasn't particularly impressed by the electronic book machines that were out on the market, and how I didn't think they'd be much of a factor in the near future. I might have been wrong.

At a barbecue this last weekend, not one but two of the guests were carrying electronic book machines. (Players? Readers? I don't really know what to call these devices yet.) One had an Amazon Kindle; the other, the Sony Reader. Why they had brought them along to a barbecue is beyond me; were they expecting there to be a lot of down time to catch up on their reading? Nevertheless, everybody around the grill had to give the two new toys a try, and there were certainly more positive than negative reviews of the whole idea.

So maybe e-books are coming faster than I expected. It's hard to say. They're certainly coming faster to the barbecues I happen to attend. I still remain a meat-and-potatoes guy when it comes to books though. I still like the kind that that fill up the shelves in my home library. But the world may be changing. Maybe eventually I'll end up changing along with it.

—Jim

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