paperandglue.net

This is a post in praise of ebooks. With a twist ending!

The Late, Lamented Palm V (QEPD)

Saleema wrote about using her iPhone as an ebook reader, and I related strongly to her feelings of delight. My story of love with regard to ereading goes back a few years, though. I bought my first ebook in February, 2005. Originally, ereading was a way for me to consume trashy* books, I now buy many books in this format — not just the ones I don’t particularly care to display on my bookshelves. Even with its puny memory capacity, my hand-me-down Palm V with a monochrome display could hold about 15 ebooks — perfect for a trip to Europe I took later that year.

Palm Tungsten: Not As Good

When my beloved Palm V went to the junkyard in the sky (I say that figuratively, because I still keep its lifeless corpse tucked away in a drawer somewhere), I replaced it with a Palm Zire, which, despite its larger memory, colour display, and iPod-knockoff design, was but a poor substitute for the late, lamented Palm V. And then I spilled water on the Zire in a Fargo hotel room and my dad, once again, saved the day by giving me his Palm Tungsten — he had ditched it in favour of an iPod Touch. There are problems with the Tungsten, though; more on that later.

Anyway, all these Palm devices inevitably seem quite quaint in comparison to the current generation of wireless PDAs, where you can download books right out of the ether onto your device. But, as we learned earlier this year, magical wireless transfers can go both ways, like in the case of Amazon’s Kindle. This summer, Amazon took a lot of heat for deleting purchased copies of George Orwell books from people’s devices without warning, following a request from the books’ publisher.

As a “long-time” ereader, I’ve hoped ebook newbies don’t lump all ebook platforms together in the wake of this, since most of them give you ownership of the digital file you purchase. All the ebooks I’ve purchased are located not only on my mobile device, but on my computer hard drive. Sure, we live in an age where having to connect your device to your computer with a (gasp!) USB cable and press a “sync” button seems terrifyingly archaic in a wireless age, but I’ll take that over Amazon reaching, ghost-like, into my device from afar.

I understand folks’ aversion to ebooks when they feel such deep affection for and attachment to the book as artifact; a similar physical/digital divide exists among music fans, and in that realm my philosophy is similar. When it comes to books and albums, I appreciate and enjoy cover design, album notes, etc. But my bookshelves and CD racks are already full to bursting. I want to read and listen to music, and if I can do that without further cluttering up my living space, that’s an attractive option (now, my cluttered hard drive is another issue entirely. But hey — extra gigs are cheaper than extra square footage, so…)

Like Saleema, I like ereaders best for reading-in-bed (I’m one of those people who has to read a few pages of something — anything — in order to even contemplate going to sleep), and as you probably know, hefty hardbacks or even chunky paperbacks can be a pain read when in a supine position.

But here’s the thing. In recent months, I’ve had consistently more trouble falling asleep. Sleep latency hasn’t always been a huge problem for me, though other sleep problems have. Anyway, anyone who has sleep problems knows the doctors’ consistent advice for lifestyle adjustments to improve one’s sleep. Make sure your bedroom is peaceful and dark. Don’t do work in your bedroom. Don’t have a TV in your bedroom, and avoid watching TV or using a computer for at least one hour, preferably two, before your head hits the pillow.

I thought I was safe — I don’t watch TV or use my computer for at least an hour before bed! In addition to my other bedtime rituals, I spent about half an hour reading, and… oh. Wait. That reading time, right before I go to sleep, is spent STARING AT A COMPUTER SCREEN. And, with my new(ish) Tungsten, a pretty bright one at that! (It’s the light of the TV and computer monitor that keeps your brain active when it should be shutting down for a dormancy period.)

Kindle: The Future? (Disembodied Hand Not Included)

I felt like an idiot for not realizing it before. But the thing is, it wasn’t a problem at the start of my ebook love affair. The Palm V’s screen was monochrome and only backlit if you pressed a button to activate it. Useful if you were sharing a room, but if you were alone and in control of the ambient light, no backlight was needed.

This brings us back to the Kindle, which (along with some other devices) uses a technology called “electronic paper,” or “e-paper” to create its displays. This display is NOT backlit and is meant to mimic the appearance of real paper.

All this time I’ve been keen on the use of platforms like Palm for my ereading, due to its lower-tech and more reliable infrastructure, when, in fact, the Kindle may be better suited to my personal needs.

Clearly this matter requires further investigation.

In the meantime, I’ll keep my Palm for daytime reading purposes only. And perhaps even take to using it as a PDA and keeping phone numbers in it.

*if you’re wondering about the exact nature of the “trash,” I’ll admit I use that word somewhat disingenuously. I don’t think the stuff I read is “trash,” and I actually love some of it a lot. What is it? It can be summed up in two words: TV tie-in. There, I said it. And I’m not ashamed. Well, I’m sort of ashamed but unapologetic.

My Actual Bookshelf