Paperless future with Amazon.com's Kindle?

zach · #1 04-04-2009, 10:27 PM

I've had my eye on the Kindle for a while now. You can have the daily newspaper and your favorite books delivered directly to the device wirelessly. And with the wireless turned off you can read for days or even weeks without recharging. They use an e-Ink technology that uses far less power than conventional illuminated displays so they consume very little power and have a long battery life.

I subscribe to Audible.com so I already get my books and newspaper delivered to my Blackberry but some of the content is limited especially for the newspapers and it's hard to skip around to just the stories you want to hear.

It seems to me that keeping newspapers and books in electronic form would have far less impact on the environment than the current process of cutting down trees, trucking the logs to a mill, creating the paper, shipping the paper, printing the publication, shipping the publication and then hoping someone will actually recycle it once they are done with it. Not to mention the ink and packaging involved.

Do you think devices/services like the Kindle and Audible.com will eventually replace printed newspapers, magazines and books?

b-baby · #2 04-05-2009, 01:40 PM

I think the only thing thats stopping this from happening right now is that people find it hard to give up the idea of being able to have and to hold their products.

For example, a first edition hardback copy of your favourite book on your bookshelf is going to mean a lot more than the bits and bytes representing the same thing on your kindle (although really, it is the content that matters, so it shouldn't.)

Or a copy of the newspaper from the day your first child was born... not quite the same on a kindle.

I think once we get past this, then it is the way to go - for any unsentimental stuff (i.e. the daily news / the majority of books I've ever read) then I think its great!

greenmachine · #3 04-05-2009, 03:03 PM

I think the issue at this point is the upfront cost. The Kindle is $360. You can buy a lot of paperbacks and newspapers for the cost of getting started with a Kindle. I would love to have one but the price is still a little steep.

gerrr · #4 04-09-2009, 10:01 PM

Its too much money to see the news, I enjoy more to see it on paper but instead of buy a Kindle i prefer see it in my laptop.

TheGreenestDollar · #5 05-06-2009, 12:00 PM

I have a Kindle and I really love it.

Most people don't think about the trees used to make their books, but once I found out that one tree only makes 116 average sized books, I was horror struck. I also read that a book that sells one million copies will need around 12,000 trees. And, that's just one title.

After that, I gave up buying new books.

I wrote an article on how to green your reading habit (where I talked at length about the Kindle) which you can find here: 3 Cool Ways To Green Your Reading Habit | The Greenest Dollar

The Kindle is worth the money, to me, because I love being about to carry hundreds of books with me, and not use any resources to support my reading habit.

blondepinky3 · #6 05-07-2009, 07:07 AM

I agree with the other comments (B-baby and Greenmachine). It is difficult to replace tradition in any area, and I think doing so with books esp. is going to be difficult. I've gone on and read a little of the blog that was mentioned (The Greenest Dollar) and I do see benefits of it but I'm slightly confused...you read it on the kindle device or your laptop? My problem, and this is something I think many people agree with, is that I enjoy having the article in my hands. I know that it does take away trees and there is so much going on with online journalism right now that can eliminate the need to use trees...but I struggle with reading from a screen. Something about being able to take the paper with me on a train, plane, bus or sitting on a park bench just can't be matched with a machine. I think it does represent what may be inevitable in the future, whether I'm thrilled about it or not!

TheGreenestDollar · #7 05-07-2009, 07:36 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by blondepinky3

I agree with the other comments (B-baby and Greenmachine). It is difficult to replace tradition in any area, and I think doing so with books esp. is going to be difficult. I've gone on and read a little of the blog that was mentioned (The Greenest Dollar) and I do see benefits of it but I'm slightly confused...you read it on the kindle device or your laptop? My problem, and this is something I think many people agree with, is that I enjoy having the article in my hands. I know that it does take away trees and there is so much going on with online journalism right now that can eliminate the need to use trees...but I struggle with reading from a screen. Something about being able to take the paper with me on a train, plane, bus or sitting on a park bench just can't be matched with a machine. I think it does represent what may be inevitable in the future, whether I'm thrilled about it or not!

BlondePinky,

I'm an avid reader, and when the Kindle first came out I felt the same way. I thought I wouldn't possibly enjoy reading from a screen as much as a real page. But I thought I'd get one simply for when I travel, since it stores so many books, and it's so lightweight.

I was amazed when I got it in and discovered the the screen is nothing like a traditional "computer screen", like we're all used to. I don't know how Amazon did it, but the screen is soft-looking, very much like a page in a book. It's actually easier for me to read the Kindle screen than it is a book page, especially outside. There is zero glare from sunshine on the screen, and no reflections like a laptop screen.

It truly is amazing technology. I admit that I do miss the "feel" of a book sometimes. But the Kindle still gives me an intimate reading experience. I think for the trees I'm saving, and the convenience of carrying so many books with me in so small a device, it's definitely worth the money.

blondepinky3 · #8 05-07-2009, 12:34 PM

Thanks for the comment on my comment!! I read your blog about it and not only did you provide a great case for the Kindle but also for other sources to recycle instead of always buying new (swaps I think you mentioned?) books. I've included your blog as a link on a short article I wrote about the device for my class environmental site. I think you've got the right idea, I'm just not sure if everyone will get on board. It is, however, interesting to read about (read about Kindle reading!) and something I'd not known about.

My class site is based around Birmingham, England recycling issues (although I'm American, I'm studying here!) and I wanted to also include here that if anyone has any thoughts about the lack of a Kindle in the UK as of yet, (as far as I've read about it...) that would be wonderful!

Thanks and hope to hear some feedback!