It may well be the best indication yet of the new-found popularity of e-books that I happened to notice in Google News’s technology section a listing of a number of short, remarkably similar posts talking about how awesome a reader the Kindle is. (The one that caught my eye was entitled, “Kindle DX: an eReader for College Students!”—which amused me given that a trial of the Kindle DX with college students concluded that was exactly what it was not.)
The articles are posted in such sources as “Los Angeles SEO or “Stopwatch News”, both of which appear to be nothing but search-engine-optimization linkbait. It’s not remarkable that they’re trying to drive traffic by mention of whatever news stories are currently “hot”, but it is interesting that e-book readers are now considered a hot enough topic to provoke their interest. (And why is it that Google News will index this linkbait trash but won’t index TeleRead?)
Of course, not all of the stories are SEO linkbait. In amongst the dross I found an amusing piece by Donna Liquori in the Times Union about how she became a new Kindle user, and what she likes and dislikes about the device. Her likes include the lightness, portability, Minesweeper, 3G capability, and “that its graphite color is too boring to capture my youngest daughter’s attention.”
What I found most entertaining is that this time, it’s the younger generation who is the paper-book snob:
"What about the smell of a book?" my daughter said, taking a good whiff of the old copy of "Rebecca" by Daphne DuMaurier she borrowed from her teacher. Later, when the Kindle arrived, she sneered and went looking for my paper copy of Charles Dickens’ "Great Expectations."
The LA Times also has a story by Michael Hiltzik about how he and his wife came to try and then find they enjoyed using Amazon Kindles as well. He runs down a list of features he likes, and compares reading from the iPad to “staring into a car headlight.”
There can be little doubt that 2010 is going to be the first real Christmas of the e-book reader. It’s only going to get better from here.
I receive my kindle this week – my Christmas present from my mum 🙂
‘There can be little doubt that 2010 is going to be the first real Christmas of the e-book reader. It’s only going to get better from here’ and I absolutely agree with this!
Ebook readers were on the front or second page of the Walmart and Big Lots Christmas advertising circulars in my local newspaper today. Both stores aim more toward lower middle class and mainstream markets.
If that’s not an indicator that ereaders have mainstreamed, nothing is.