Which brings up an important point - don't you think I should have some kind of grand 5 year anniversary party or something? I checked with Hallmark and the official gift is either wood or silverware - as long as nobody sends me wood silverware I'll be happy. (which reminds me I do need to investigate replacing my everyday silverware that is at least 10 years old and looking nasty)
So - changes afoot here in the land of CursingMama - Are you as excited as I am?
I suppose its hard to get excited when you don't have a clue as to what the changes are going to be. You'll have to trust me when I say that things will be a work in progress and it will involve more than a header change and a new font. Not that I'm really thinking those two things will happen any time soon.
Now I'm mysterious just like the heroins in some of the books I read.*
*note: awkward transitions will never be upgraded
Over the weekend I was privileged to celebrate Mothers Day with my mother, whom I mentioned on Sunday is also an avid reader. It wasn't a very shocking turn of events, what was is when the discussion turned to ebooks and the array of readers available. Somewhere I read that people over 40 are the chief purchasers of ereaders (this must explain why I don't have one); a fact which surprised my mother who is over 40 but does not have an ereader either.Like the mp3 player before she is confused by the assortment of available readers, doesn't understand why they don't all speak to each other nicely, is wary of buying something (the book part) that she can't physically go to the store and pick up, and she has no interest in messing around online trying to figure out how to work the darn things.
And that's when it hit me - the manufactures need to step back and maybe take a look at the personal video game devices that litter my home.
We are not a big video game family, yet both my children have personal devices (mostly Nintendo type) in addition to the larger Sony PlayStation and PlayStation2. No, you can't play that PlayStation2 game on the NintendoDS - but what you can do is go to the store, browse the games, maybe even try them out, and bring them home. The games aren't hypothetical at all - they are stored on something the kids can keep track of themselves AND they can trade & share them - although not copy them.
Which brings me back to the Electronic Reader Device. There are a lot of them on the market and not a single one allows an avid reader the pleasure of walking into a bookseller, wandering through the shelves, reading a page or two to pick the newest read, a face to face interaction with someone who likely loves books as much as you, the anticipation of taking a new book home, and maybe passing it along for a friend to read.
If we move exclusively to these new devices, all of this is gone - and isn't that part of a readers experience too?
I've been thinking of getting an electronic reader for quite a while. (In fact I am pretty sure that I said I wanted one loaded with my To Be Read List for Mothers Day- knowing that wouldn't happen) For a long time I thought I'd wait for ipod to come out with a bigger screen which would give me a neat little package of music & books & wi-fin in one - lately I've been thinking Netbook is the way to go - since Old Dell is breathing her last breaths...
Of course, if Nintendo shows up to the table - and gives me an EReader DS - with book cartridges I can buy at my favorite local bookstore - all bets are off.
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