I will preface my remarks by saying that I own a first generation Kindle. It was given to me by a friend who quickly purchased the second generation. The Kindle is a very good device for pure reading. It is possible to forget you are using a device rather than reading a book. If you are a purely recreational reader, this device is all you need. It will especially shine for the purposes of travel. You will have all the books you want and none of the strain on your carry-on bag.
For me, unfortunately, this is not enough.
I need the following features added to my electronic reader:
- An option to view a books pages just as they are in the actual book. As an academic and commentator, I need to be able to demonstrate exactly where I got a fact or idea. That means I need to be able to refer to a page number, not some electronic location. This problem could be conquered either by making books available as pdfs with a screen large enough to comfortably display them or the software could insert pagination throughout the text the same way Lexis-Nexis does. Either would work.
- The ability to mark and highlight the text. The Kindle lets me highlight portions of a text and even to view them as a group. However, I cannot easily track the page number from which the highlights came. And I cannot do anything other than highlighting. I need to be able to write in margins, bracket, underline, etc. Call it marginalia. I need to be able to do that. It would be even better if I could then access all the markings I did and have ready access to the page numbers from which they came. A good stylus would be necessary. I can’t do it all with fingerpainting.
- I’m getting greedy now. But how great would it be if I could choose portions of a text to email to a friend or to post to a blog?
- A notepad that could be used like evernote or microsoft note where I could write outlines or other notes in parallel to the books and articles I am reading.
Here are the features I don’t need:
- Wi-fi is a plus, but not essential. I could prepare all my tasks and then connect to a computer to do the things that require a connection.
- I do not need color e-ink. The black and gray works pretty well. If color e-ink costs me any features from above, then I don’t want it. And really, I’d rather just have black and white rather than black and gray. Color is not necessarily a big add for people who work with documents.
I very much hope some of the manufacturers and designers will read this post and consider coming up with a version that can do these things. There is a big market among academics, graduate students, college students, and authors for the device that works in this way. For me, the iPad goes far astray of what I’m seeking. Kindle is closer, but not close enough.
January 30th, 2010 | 11:58 am | #1
If all the raindrops were lemon drops and gum drops, oh what a rain that would be. Except for those disgusting green gum drops, and the rock-hard black licorice ones. In fact, the more I think about it, I’d be pretty upset if it was raining candy — that’s not what I want at all.
… /cynicism …
January 30th, 2010 | 2:13 pm | #2
Oh, Frank. This is not a crazy wishlist. I think it’s pretty practical.
January 30th, 2010 | 6:20 pm | #3
I did admit that my comment was cynical, so I’ll take the licks for that.
For the record, I’d agree that digital books are not paper books and right now they can’t be used like paper books. Seems to me, though, that the problem there is that there is an antiquated style sheet attempting to govern a new technology — and the technology shouldn’t have to conform the academic accounting practices. It may be convenient for the professional academic to have a eReader of some kind, but that’s not the major marketplace for the Kindle or the iPad.
I grasp the complaint. I think it is like complaining about the lack of a wine list at the Packer’s game.
January 30th, 2010 | 9:00 pm | #4
No, no, sir. Not correct at all. Academic uses of this kind of device are the best ones, whether student or professor. We are the ones who have to lug around a large number of books and would benefit the most from being able to use an electronic device to keep many of them at once. And there are millions of college students who could use it in the way I have suggested. I think a device like this has more uses for folks like us than for the “beer drinking” public you are thinking about.
January 31st, 2010 | 8:53 am | #5
While the analogical value of the comparison between beer and what the average reader and buyer of books reads and buys looks like a profitable place to do some work (and I did start it with the Packers’ analogy, so don’t hear me complaining about it), I’ll just keep walking and admit that eReaders might have brilliant uses in academia.
They were simply not designed for the academy, nor was the professionally-smart/wise class the primary marketplace for the gizmos. Amazon broke through with Kindle so that people — the people who keep Amazon in business — would buy more books.
That’s a popular audience, not an academic or professional audience. And my point (as poorly made as it was) was that it’s up to the academy to improve its accounting methods and style sheets if it wants to cash in on the eReader phenomenon — it’s not up to Kindle or iPad or the Sony Reader or any of those manufacturers to comply with style manuals designed and intended for a world with pages only rather than bandwidth.
Personally, I like the Kindle app on my iPod, and I like the free ESV I got for that app, but I also wish that you could turn off the verse numbers so the text could be the text — then if you were particularly inspired you could turn the verse number back on for the more gripping task of showing people where God inspired you. But that’s such an esoteric improvement on an incredible blessing that I’ll keep it to myself unless someone asks.
January 31st, 2010 | 7:35 pm | #6
Mr. Baker,
That list is a great starting point, and if I ever jump into the 21st century and get an electronic reader (unlikely), I’ll undoubtedly look for those options (because by then they’ll probably actually be options).
But, with all due respect, you think far too small. Might I suggest a few other “extras” which would enhance an electronic reader?
-an alcoholic beverage dispenser: If books are bulky to pack around, how much more difficult is it to ensure that we always have the appropriate beverage selection to match our reading? (And they’ll have to build in a special “grape juice” option for us Baptists.)
-Morgan Freeman doing the audio version of every book. Since his narration automatically makes movies better, think how much better it would make reading…
-something that will annoy everyone else on the train on my morning commute. I’m completely open to suggestions on this one, I just don’t want to be the only guy on the train with a personal electronic device that isn’t giving everyone else on the car a headache. I suppose that pretty much limits it to flashing lights, loud noises, and pungent odors, but I’ll defer to those with more experience using technology than I have. Bonus points if it prohibits actual conversation between commuters.
-also, lasers. I don’t care what kind. I’d prefer something that can shoot at the moon, but beggars can’t be choosers.
Add these to an eReader and I guarantee an increase of American literacy. At least, I’d buy one.
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