The Kindle Debate

As big as a trade paperback, she said, but heavier of course. She loves her Kindle.

The books are cheap, she went on, some only five dollars. Sure the Kindle is over $300, but she was spending more than that every year on hard copies so it's cheaper in the long run.

We discussed the Kindle at the book club meeting and opinions were all over the place. One of the members was considering the e-reader for a daughter away at college. How perfect for her, an avid reader, when a Kindle can hold so many books at once. The device is far more portable than a stack of bulky books, and who could argue with that logic.

The size of the font can be varied, to accommodate aging eyes without resorting to reading glasses. That can be a benefit when reading outdoors on a sunny day and you don't have prescription sunglasses, but what about the dangers of blowing sand if you're reading at the beach?

Books on Kindle don't have covers, and that was deemed a great loss. So much of a book is judged by the cover, and that's missing with an electronic delivery system.

And there's no pages to turn. The physical act of reading, the feel of paper in the hand, is missing. One member of our group is dead set against the Kindle because there is no substitute for a real book, no matter the convenience.

What of the library, so? Will there be a time in the future when the library shelves will hold blank Kindles to be checked out? Rather than choose a book, would we browse some kind of display? Would the librarian download our choice and tell us the book's going to disappear from the e-reader in two weeks?

What sort of fines would be levied for keeping the Kindle beyond the allowed time period? Or would we have to buy Kindles of our own?

Finally, there's the author, who labors over every manuscript. There's never been any money to be had as a writer, but will cheap e-books make matters even worse? What kind of royalties could be expected from a book that sells for five dollars? After all, the publisher still has to pay its acquistion editors and copy editors and executives.

I'll weigh in on the side of the Kindle haters. The convenience doesn't outweigh the negatives for someone who'd like to be a published author some day.