|
I'm with Ed on this one.
It's not so much that it's smaller than the paper alternative, it's that we've cast aside our paper bondage long ago. For avid readers moving from paper to ebook, it's no sweat. From we few who are moving from a PDA, the pocket size takes a mighty big pocket.
Useless history: when palm went about building their first, well, palm, one of their engineers cut and recut a block of wood and went around the office checking pockets to see if it actually fit. I bring this up because most ebook manufacturers are approaching "pocket" dimensions as what's the smallest page size around, not what's the typical pocket size.
Yes, I can carry 1000's of books in one device the size of a book, but I'm still having to keep track of a device the size of a book -- but how many books will I read on one outing? 90%+ of the time, it's only one.
How has this device that's about the same size and weight, and just as anti-portable really helped me in the day-to-day?
My point is not that Ebooks are useless unless they're like PDAs -- it's that it's not quite optimal "handy-ness". An inch here and there, it'll slip in my pocket, and pop out on a whim. It *COULD* become a gadget that goes everywhere with me that I don't have to think about until I use it. Instead, I have to keep up with it, make sure I don't leave it in the restaurant or set it down on the park bench, all while juggling it with everything else I'm carrying -- I have pockets for a reason!
No, my complaint is not that's they're useless, it's that they could be more useful!
Dan <><
|