Techno-Dweeb

I am a bit of a techno-nut.  Even though I can't usually afford loads of gadgets, I still love reading about new things and all cool things they can do.  BlackBerries, iPods, tablets, SatNavs... and now: Kindles!

When they first came about I was totally skeptical and thought I'd never like them.  I love books, and always have something to read; I get a bit twitchy when I'm coming to the end of a good book and know I've nothing to read once I've finished it.  So you might think that I'd love the idea of Kindle, and always having a book on me.  But I was a bit sentimental and didn't like the idea of a machine replacing my beloved books.  How can it be the same?  I fretted.

Now, I carry a minimum of 3 books with me when I go on holiday and when I went for my wee weekend in London recently I took two: one was a large paperback, and the other was a full size, heavy hard-cover.  Carting these about in my bag to read on the bus and train got me thinking that maybe Kindles weren't such a bad idea after all. 

And then I started reading up on them.  You can read them in any light, for a start, because they don't have glare.  They don't have an LCD screen like a computer so they don't hurt your eyes if you read too much.  They have this new technology called E Ink Pearl which makes it look as though you're actually reading ink off paper - or as near to it as a screen can get, which is actually pretty damn near.  You can carry 3,500 books around with you, download them in 60 secs and get some for free.  And (this is what had worried me most, I think) nearly every book you can think of is available as an E Book.  I'd thought that there might be certain publishers that didn't release their books in this format, or only the big blockbuster ones would really be available.

Over the last month or so I've done some research, read some reviews, looked at prices, looked at cases, thought about it and weighed it up, and I think I've decided to actually get one.  My mum is giving me a bit of money from the pension sum she got when she retired and I'm going to stick it in an ISA.  But I think I'll take £100 from it and buy the kindle, and then I can put the money back into the ISA week by week off my dole money (or my wages, assuming I get a job).  We're going on a wee family holiday to Tenerife at the end of August, so I figure it'll stand me in good stead and save me the back-ache of carrying 2 books and a magazine onto the plane with me.  I've also seen a very fetching case to protect it from sun, sea, sand and beer.  I think you'll all agree, the cover couldn't me any more 'me' if it tried:

Kindle case, from Curry's

If any of my wee blog amigos have a Kindle, I'd love to hear what you think of it!