Quote:
Originally Posted by Alisa
I loved the looks of the original Sony but I just couldn't bear to buy it with all that wasted potential. It basically just displayed books. It didn't seem justifiable to me to make a product like that and not include the ability to search or use a dictionary. Since I'd already had enough bad experiences with Sony, I took it as evidence of weak commitment to firmware features, bought the Kindle when it came out and never looked back. To their credit, they have added some to features since then, most notably with format support, but here they've included touchscreen and search in the 700 and STILL no dictionary.
I know some people don't view a dictionary as necessary but I find it does add to my reading experience. Before, I used to just get words from context but now even when I'm only a little curious about a word or think an author may be using it in some nuanced way, I look it up. It often enhances my understanding. I could have enjoyed the book without, but it's improved this way. Besides, it's such a simple thing to include and it is so useful for students and non-native speakers, why not? Why bring together computing power and books and not try to add something more than just showing you the pages? That's what I appreciate about the Kindle. They tried to make my interaction with a book even richer than it was before.
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Exactly. I generally can gain an understanding of a word from it's context, but sometimes a word is just nagging to be defined. It does enhance the reading experience and understanding to be able to look it up.
I can't go through life (personally) with a certain vocabulary skill set and expect to be able to derive definitions via context or thin air, it is amazing to truly understand the meaning of a word. After all, our ability to think and use words to convey our thoughts is what separates us from animals, so I figure why not use that to my full advantage?
In other news, my Kindle is in transit!!!!! WOOHOO!!!
