Is this really something that we are going to have to be faced with in the future?

I was sitting at the library the other day working on an assignment for class, and I was talking to a librarian about ebooks. Naturally, I told her about the Kindle that I have. At that particular library, they circulate Sony eReaders to their patrons for their ebooks — which is fantastic! — but she wanted to see the Kindle in action to tell the difference. So, being the eager-beaver-teacher-pleaser that I am, I was all gung-ho about flourishing my kindle around! I pulled it out of my bag and opened the cover. Virginia Woolf’s face was delicately displayed on the screen. (“Oh how nice!” the librarian exclaimed.) When I slid the power switch over to ‘wake it up’……. and nothing. I tried sliding it over and holding it, which helps reset the device, and still… nothing. Virginia Woolf just did not leave that screen.

So now I’m not only embarrassed, but I’m also annoyed that my fabulous Kindle has decided it doesn’t have enough power to turn on. Fantastic. And before any of you readers wag your finger and say “Oooh, well, you know you should plug it in all the time… it is ELECTRONIC after all!” — I know. I know. Shh. Let’s be honest here: the concept of charging up a book is a bit absurd. Having a battery in a book adds this temporal limitation on it that is very frustrating, not to mention, I well… in my opinion, just wrong.

Did you know, that when you lend out a book from your Kindle to another Kindle, the lendee will only be able to read it for two weeks, and at that time, the lender will be unable to read/access the same title?  Sure, it sort of makes sense in the real world… when you lend out a book obviously you won’t be able to read it at the same time… but we’re talking about a digital file here, people. Only lending it out for two weeks? That puts some immense pressure on the lendee to read quickly! And the book cannot be lended to the same person again — ever! Non-renewable! AND not all books are lendable!! Before I go all crazy-eyed over this, I will say that this has certainly made me ponder over a few different things. Perhaps you should too!

1. Going ‘green’ — if we have to plug in our ‘books,’ aren’t we still consuming vast amounts of energy?
2. Electronic device — this means I have to wait until a safe cruising altitude to read on an airplane now.
3. Paper — yeah, real books don’t need batteries. I think I’ll continue to take real books on my travels.