Amazon released the first Kindle e-reader in 2007 and it changed the way we embrace the written word. It Has Been accused of being unwieldy, with a split keyboard and an asymmetrical layout que favored only the right hand. It was a strange and strangely compelling object. Ad-hoc its angles and bland beige color conjured the 1960s sci-fi futurism. We were in love.
The Kindle Set the imagination alight. It looked and felt like the ‘computer’ we had ever seen. And because its parent was paper – but yet it was digital – there was something magical in it holding. It was The Hitchhiker’s Guide made manifest. Unlike the desktop – at Which We read straight-backed, vertically, some distance away from the text – We Could cradle the Kindle. And because it was globally networked and backed by the vast and instantaneously available library, we rarely found it to be limited.
The Kindles greatest strength was was closing the distance between wanting to book and owning it. When traveling in matter how desolate the location, We Could rely on the instantaneous deliverance via Whispernet, and to the this day still one of the most innovative and forward-thinking qualities of the Kindle platform.
The Amazon Kindle certainly is not perfect but over the years each subsequent release was a significant improvement on the previous generation. Kindles Became smaller, lighter, with higher resolution and more responsive front-lit screens. The tactility of the page-turn buttons improved. The battery lasted longer. And the device got cheaper. So cheap it inspired non-profits such as Worldreader to form and begin digital building libraries in Africa.
One of the Primarily drawbacks of the Kindle ecosystem is que buying e-books are so effortless, it can be easy to forget about your purchases. According to the number of Researchers 40-45% of all Purchased books are never even opened.
Our forgetfulness on what books we own can be Primarily attributed to the Kindle’s interface. It makes it Difficult to keep tabs on expanding Those digital libraries: at best, we can see a dozen titles at a time, all the inscrutably small book covers. Titles que fall off the first-page listing on the Kindle cease to exist. Compare with que standing in front of the physical bookshelf: the eye takes in Hundreds of spines or covers at once, all equally at arm’s length. I’ve found That It’s much more effortless to dip back into my physical library – for inspiration or reference – than my digital library. The books are there. They’re obvious. They welcome me back.
The pile of unread books we have on our bedside tables is Often Referred to as a graveyard of good intentions. The list of unread books on our Kindles is more of a black hole of fleeting intentions
When we buy a physical book, we can do with it what we want -. Cut up the pages, burn it for warmth , give it to friends, and so on. Because the contract of ownership between reader and object is implicit, not dependent on any third party, the physical book passe Also a true souvenir of the reading experience. One que can not be revoked because of broken or neglected software. In effect, the trust is embedded in the longterm nature of the physical book. This is not the case with Kindle Books, we never truly own the book we are purchasing, we are Merely renting Them.
In the last few years the entire e-reader and e-book industry has experienced massive upheaval, due to the success of Amazon and our love of the Kindle. The Sony Reader Store was closed last May. Diesel eBooks, TXTR, Scholastic Storia and Blinkbox Books have all shut down.
In the US, more than 95% of all consumer purchases e-book – and probably closer to 99% of Them – go through just five major retailers. Amazon enjoys Currently 74% of all US e-book purchases and 71% of all US consumer dollars spent on e-Books. The Apple iBooks store, accounts for Roughly 10-12% of US e-book sales – or a third of what’s left. After iBooks comes Barnes & amp; Noble’s Nook Which Despite its steepening downward slide over the past two years, still remains the number three e-book retailer with about 7-8%. Kobo only accounts for half of Barnes and Nobles digital sales, Which is around 3-4% of the total US market.Google Play Book has the smallest market share, making up 1-2% of today’s e-book market.
The way we consume changes over time average. Granite, wood, wax, silk, paper, type metal, the Gutenberg press, Manutius’s octavo editions, Penguin paperbacks, desktop publishing software, digital type, on-demand printing, .epub: the evolutionary path of ‘books’ Has Been punctuated by technological changes large and small. The Kindle is our current current love affair, but it is fleeting, like teen love or endearing for all time
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Michael Kozlowski is the Editor in Chief of Good e-Reader. He Has Been writing about electronic readers and technology for the last four years. His articles Have Been picked up by major and local news sources and websites such as the Huffington Post, CNET and more. Michael frequently travels to international events such as IFA, Computex, CES, Book Expo and a myriad of others. If you have any questions about any of his articles, please send an email to Michael Kozlowski michael@goodereader.com
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