I Love Books But I’m Impressed by Kindle2

I’ve always loved books. I love to read them. I’ve always lined them up on bookshelves after I read them. I can spend hours in a bookstore with no particular purpose but looking at the books. I’ll be very disappointed if small, local, intimate bookstores don’t survive the paradigm shifts happening in publishing.

But I can also see convergence at some point between online and local outlets. It is obvious now with the way Amazon is fronting for hundreds of small stores that actually do the fulfillment. Still doesn’t replace the ambiance or experience at the local bookstore. So there will still be a place and hopefully that sorts out before we lose that entire category of local business,

I’ve also been trying out the Kindle2, a device Amazon offers that enables a reader to rapidly purchase and download an entire book to a reader about the size of a paperback but only as thick as a pencil.

Really.

And it works. I can see in the future that a local book store, could offer the option of buying the physical book or beaming a book to your reader.

The downside: it isn’t as tactile; it doesn’t have the old book smell as it ages; it isn’t as easy to share.

The upside: it is environmentally friendly; it can hold a zillion books; it is easier to read while you’re eating; it is easier to read laying down or on your side…you don’t have to roll over every time you turn the page.

And…it is very easy to read unobtrusively in boring meetings.

Now we just have to find ways to make all this viable for the locally-owned economy.

But I can see it coming.