2 ms·
"For example, the Kindle lets readers down with respect to one subtle but powerful element of the traditional book’s appeal: its role as an identity marker. Pul
by ardit33 17y ago
"For example, the Kindle lets readers down with respect to one subtle but powerful element of the traditional book’s appeal: its role as an identity marker. Pulling out a particular book on an airline flight or in a doctor’s office can mean staking a claim to being a particular kind of person."
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That is easily resovalbe. Having a second smaller outside screen (like flip phones do), showing what you are reading :P
But honeslty, if you are judging a person by what they are reading, then you are are bit superficial (you can have smart people, splurging on silly books once and a while).
I think having a kindle right now means a lot more:
You either:
1. Are an avid book reader, so a Kindle is a huge convenience for you (worth the price)
2. Have good money, (or generous parents).
I think the Kindle is expensive, b/c the technology itself is expensive, and it will get cheaper by time. Remember, the first hard drive based MP3 players were even more expensive at the beginning.
And the Kindle is a wireless device. (works everywhere).
Most people it are used to get 99$ or free cellphones, but they forget they are buying a heavy subsidized device which will cost a lot more money down the road with their $60-$90/month service rates.
- kingkawn 17y ago"But honeslty, if you are judging a person by what they are reading, then you are are bit superficial" It's easy to be dismissive of these kinds of social indicators, but they have power and influence, and taking them seriously can help you to understand how to improve the product in question.
- unalone 17y agoThere are other methods of judgment, though. Sometimes the judgment is of the product itself. Nobody who's seen me with a Kindle has gone away thinking anything other than "This is somebody who reads hardcore." They don't get an idea of what I read, same as they don't get an idea of what's on my iPod, but the existence of the product says something in and of itself. Perhaps being judgmental about books is on the way out. It's happened before. Perhaps there'll be even more emphasis on clothing judgmentalism.
- ironkeith 17y agoI have a Kindle and one of my favourite things is that people can't see what I'm reading. I can sit in an airport lobby and read programming books, sci-fi, Harry Potter, or Michael Ondaatje and no one can tell. Feels good man.
- unalone 17y agoOh, definitely. I read British kid's fantasy in the middle of big literature discussions, and Shakespeare on the way to drunken concerts. It beat when I was reading Infinite Jest last year and getting weird looks from everybody.
- alex_c 17y ago>But honeslty, if you are judging a person by what they are reading, then you are are bit superficial Judging a person by the... cover of the book they're reading?
- erikwiffin 17y agoThe Kindle is subsidized. You pay $9.99 every time you buy a book for it. If I'm going to spend more than $100 on something like this, I really don't want to have to continue to pay to keep it useful. On the other hand, to subsidize the Kindle to the point where they could afford to sell it for $100, they'd have to sell books for a lot more than $10, and (ignoring libraries and used books) a paper back doesn't often cost too much more than $10.
- ardit33 17y ago"The Kindle is subsidized." -- Not any more than an ipod/touch is. You are actually paying the fair price for device is. An iphone at 99, is a heavily subsidized device. The real cost would be more than $400-$500. You are paying it down the road with the $70-$100/mo plan. Technically, you can buy a kindle, and use it only for pdfs and never buy a book, and that's still ok.
- unalone 17y agoRemember that book costs slide downward over time. I got me the complete Sherlock Holmes for a dollar, and a bit of Austen and Dickens for free. I think Neuromancer was about seven dollars, too. So it's not a flat price eating away at you.
- bkudria 17y agoDon't forget Amazon is also footing the (continual) wireless bill.
- fnid 17y agoif you are judging a person by what they are reading, then you are are bit superficial I think it's countless times better to judge a person by which books they read than it is to judge them by the clothes they wear or how they style their hair or how big their muscles or boobs are. Judging isn't good, but books are something close to the heart.
- bkudria 17y agoWait, hold on, what's wrong with judging? How would we get anywhere without judging? We are judging machines!