MobileRead Forums - View Single Post - Library borrowing and my Kindle reading habits

tomsem · 12-12-2010, 11:56 PM

Recently I purchased an iPod Touch 4G. I have nearly every available ebook reading application on there and can theoretically buy ebooks from any ebook storefront. But it was more of an experiment than anything else, after all, reading on a Kindle is so much more pleasant, isn't it?

Recently, iPhone apps that support Adobe DRM ePub, and library borrowing from Overdrive-powered library web portals have appeared (Bluefire and Overdrive Media Console), and I got a library card at the San Francisco Public Library (available to any CA resident, even those 200 miles away from SF like me). Suddenly, I have an expanding wish list of titles (both ebooks and audiobooks) that I was too much of a spendthrift to purchase, all for 'free' (well, not really. we do pay taxes...). The looming lending period provides powerful motivation, I'm ripping through title after title; my Kindle sits all but abandoned, except for strange experiments (such as reading Adobe DRM'ed Google eBooks with Kindle's web browser..).

Prior to this I was a 'library borrowing skeptic.' "They don't have a big enough selection of things I will want to read." "I won't want to wait." "If I can't read it on my Kindle, I'm not interested." Wrong, all wrong!!

The fact is, there is plenty of stuff available for borrowing at any given time that I want to read, or am willing to wait for, as long as I don't have to pay for it (did I mention that I'm a spendthrift?). And my iPod goes to all those places my Kindle does not, requires no external light (in 'night mode', throws off far less light than my Kindle with a book light). With my new reading glasses, tiny text is no problem at all (backlight never was a problem for me, and after a few weeks with my new toy, I'm used to its power 'feeding schedule', and fingerprints don't bother me anymore). Audiobooks that I was not willing to spend an Audible credit for are suddenly attractive to me.

Anyway, I'm questioning everything about my relationship to my Kindle. I expect it will all balance out eventually, but in the meantime, I don't know where this is leading.

Anybody else have a similar experience? Advice?

12-12-2010, 11:56 PM	#1
tomsem Grand Sorcerer Posts: 6,477 Karma: 26425959 Join Date: Apr 2009 Location: USA Device: iPhone 15PM, Kindle Scribe, iPad mini 6, PocketBook InkPad Color 3	Library borrowing and my Kindle reading habits Recently I purchased an iPod Touch 4G. I have nearly every available ebook reading application on there and can theoretically buy ebooks from any ebook storefront. But it was more of an experiment than anything else, after all, reading on a Kindle is so much more pleasant, isn't it? Recently, iPhone apps that support Adobe DRM ePub, and library borrowing from Overdrive-powered library web portals have appeared (Bluefire and Overdrive Media Console), and I got a library card at the San Francisco Public Library (available to any CA resident, even those 200 miles away from SF like me). Suddenly, I have an expanding wish list of titles (both ebooks and audiobooks) that I was too much of a spendthrift to purchase, all for 'free' (well, not really. we do pay taxes...). The looming lending period provides powerful motivation, I'm ripping through title after title; my Kindle sits all but abandoned, except for strange experiments (such as reading Adobe DRM'ed Google eBooks with Kindle's web browser..). Prior to this I was a 'library borrowing skeptic.' "They don't have a big enough selection of things I will want to read." "I won't want to wait." "If I can't read it on my Kindle, I'm not interested." Wrong, all wrong!! The fact is, there is plenty of stuff available for borrowing at any given time that I want to read, or am willing to wait for, as long as I don't have to pay for it (did I mention that I'm a spendthrift?). And my iPod goes to all those places my Kindle does not, requires no external light (in 'night mode', throws off far less light than my Kindle with a book light). With my new reading glasses, tiny text is no problem at all (backlight never was a problem for me, and after a few weeks with my new toy, I'm used to its power 'feeding schedule', and fingerprints don't bother me anymore). Audiobooks that I was not willing to spend an Audible credit for are suddenly attractive to me. Anyway, I'm questioning everything about my relationship to my Kindle. I expect it will all balance out eventually, but in the meantime, I don't know where this is leading. Anybody else have a similar experience? Advice? Last edited by tomsem; 12-12-2010 at 11:58 PM.