feature7 TOP10 book
wingspan • may 12, 2010
OPEN
an
reasons to buy a Kindle 1. excellent for travel 2. holds all types of files
Kindle and Nook provide consumers with new ways to buy and read books Katie King Junior Editor
E
nglish teacher Betsy Squires was interested in buying a book called The Disappeared by Kim Echlin. Instead of driving to the bookstore or ordering a copy online, she sat down with her new Amazon Kindle 2 and entered the online store with the push of a button. She browsed the store before entering a search for the title and reading a brief description. She then selected “Try Sample” and the first chapter was downloaded in less than a minute. “I can carry my own library wherever I go. I would say I have about 10 or 12 books,” Squires said. “I try to be careful because I can see where I could spend my entire paycheck on books this way. It’s very addictive.” The ability to download a free sample is one of the many features of the Kindle, and one that Squires uses often when considering a book. “It’s really nice because I’ve bought books where I thought they sounded great, and then I read them and needed to ditch them,” Squires said. “Now I can read the first chapter and decide if I want to buy it.” Amazon.com first introduced its wireless reader in 2007 with the Kindle First Generation. The Kindle allows the owner to purchase books, magazines, newspapers and other text documents straight from the device and read them on the 6-inch screen. The latest Kindle model, Kindle 2, is being sold for $259. The Kindle DX, which is equipped with global wireless, is priced at $489. “If you’re traveling, if you have several books going at one time, if you’re reading purely for pleasure, this is the kind of thing to read your books with,” Squires said. “I don’t have enough room in my house to add any more books. So this is a won-
the screen. This is a totally different technology than computer screens. It’s more like a black inkjet,” Squires said. “It doesn’t hurt my eyes at all. That was a major consideration because when I sit in front of a computer my eyes hurt after a while.” Barnes & Noble sells its own wireless reader, called the Nook, for $249. The Nook has many of the same capabilities as the Kindle, but it also features a color touch screen, expandable storage, Wi-Fi derful way for me to have my library of books.” and LendMe technology, which allows the owner The Kindle 2 is equipped with a highlighting to share an eBook for up to 14 days. option, text-to-speech, recommendations based “One of the disadvantages of the Kindle is afon purchase history and a 1,500-book capacity. ter I finish reading a book, I want to say to someeBooks can be purchased for relatively low prices one else, read this book,” Squires said. “With the compared to traditional books. Hardcover and Kindle, I can’t do that. There’s no way for me to paperback books are sold elecgive that person my book unless tronically for as little as $5.99. I give them my Kindle.” “It’s an investment. But you’ll With the Kindle alone rakThere are people find a lot of material in it that is ing in more than $1 billion, the who still love to between $5.99 and $10 or $12. popularity of eReaders has risen So it’s comparable to the cost of tremendously. But the demand actually have a paperback and usually cheaper for eReaders has had little ima book in their than a hardcover,” Barnes & Nopact on the sale of paperback ble Community Relations Manand hardcover books. According hand and be ager Kevin Mills said. “Where to Mills, this is due largely to the able to turn the you save some money is usually fact that some people prefer to with popular titles that come out have a tangible novel. pages and put a hardcover first, and you’re look “What we see here in the bookmark in it. ing at a $25 to $35 book. You can store is you’ve got people who get it through the eReader service still love to actually have a book Kevin Mills brand new for $8.99 or $9.99.” in their hand and be able to turn Barnes & Noble Community The Kindle screen is a the pages and put a bookmark Relations Manager 16-shade grayscale display, in it, and then there are people meaning it has coloring similar to that of book who are more tech-friendly and are more apt to paper. The coloring makes it easy to read without go away from books and continue to go with the the headaches that typically come from looking at eReaders,” Mills said. “Overall, we haven’t seen a a traditional back-lit computer screens. dramatic drop in what we do best, and that is sell “There is no lighting coming up from behind books.”
“
”
(DOC, TXT, PDF) 3. high quality 4. very thin and portable 5. almost any book, any time 6. water resistant, so great for poolside reading 7. can add notes and bookmarks to the selection 8. includes same page, builtin dictionary 9. fairly good illustrations 10. it is the future
TOP10
reasons not to buy a Kindle 1. pages are continuous, hard to find “halfway” through 2. horrible for reference 3. Kindle is flimsy 4. not ready for students 5. Internet connection does not work internationally 6. no memory expansion 7. flight attendants will ask for it to be turned off 8. it contains a battery, so it can die without charging 9. bottom heavy 10. doesn’t have the feel or charm of a paper book (written by John Biggs, www.bspcn.com)
Apple’s iPad provides a glimpse into the future of technology ect involving computers. Apple CEO Steve Jobs introduced the iPad on Jan. 27 to Apple employees and journalists at the Yerba Buena Center in San Francisco. According fraid to open it, he sat on his bed staring to Jobs, the iPad, “is so much more intimate than and running his hands over the sleek white a laptop, and it’s so much more capable than a box imprinted with Apple’s logo. His hands smart-phone with its gorgeous screen.” shaking, he broke the seal of the box and slid out The iPad has three different hard drive sizes the one thing that he had waited months to hold available: 16GB, 32GB or 64GB. It is able to run for in his hands. 10 hours on a fully charged battery, according to Gazing at the iPad, it appears Apple. While it has Internet acsimilar to a tablet computer, with cess, it doesn’t have cable ports My least favorite the capabilities of any normal or USB capabilities to allow the laptop. However, with features device to plug in an Ethernet cathing about the like iTunes and iBooks, countless ble or flash drive, keeping it from iPad is that it applications and Internet access, replacing a laptop. the iPad may be in a different “My least favorite thing about isn’t a substitute category, possibly creating a new the iPad is that it isn’t a substitute for a laptop. But class of technology. According to for a laptop. But the neat thing is some, it could change technology that you can get textbooks on it,” the neat thing and newsprint alike. Thomas said. “You can have your is, you can get “The iPad is a multi-media school textbook on it, and you textbooks on it. device. In a way, it’s like the Kincan take notes on it. You can play dle. I did a little bit of research, music on it.” Mark Thomas and it’s the same size as the Kin Since it has been hailed as senior dle,” senior Mark Thomas said. a “magical and revolution“The larger Kindle is $489 so that ary” new product by Apple, othmakes the iPad only $10 more.” er companies may try to market products similar Thomas originally planned to preorder the to the iPad. One example of a similar product is iPad, hoping to get it before April 12; however, he the HP Slate, which costs approximately $550. It decided to wait for the second generation of the contains some features that the iPad does lack, iPad. Apple is known for creating a second gen- like the USB port. Some critics claim it is, “a neteration of their devices to react to criticisms of book minus the keyboard.” the first edition. Thomas has a special interest in However, the iPad contains some features technology, demonstrated by his graduation proj- that other devices fall short on. It has access to
Kaitlyn Reddy Asst. Feature Editor
A
“
”
more than 140,000 apps, Wi-Fi, easy e-mail capability, the iTunes store and several other features that put it ahead of the competition. The iPad’s height is 9.5 in. and its width is 7.5 in. It weighs about a pound and a half and is completely touch screen. Some say that this new small tablet device will be the death of newsprint. “I’ve gone on record as saying that tablets and the iPad will not save the publishing industry. No one thing can do that. Like the music industry did before it, newspapers and magazines are going through a painful transition. Part of it is a natural and, perhaps, even necessary contraction,” Editor-in-Chief Lance Ulanoff of PC Magazine said in a recent article. The price for the iPad without the 3G network, (a subscription to AT&T for Internet access where cellular reception is available) is $499 for the 16GB, $599 for the 32GB and $699 for the 64GB model. However, without the 3G network, one would be without access to the Internet unless a Wi-Fi (wireless) connection is available. It costs $130 extra to subscribe to the 3G package. “It is very unique and is sure to please consumers that look for a different way to access the world,” Jobs said in a press release. Now that the iPad is out, the technology world may begin to change.
What do the Kindle and iPad mean for the future of paper books? “I think everything will pretty much stay the same. People will still buy just as many paperbacks because not everyone can afford to buy a Kindle or an iPad. It won’t be what people use all the time, just until the electronic stuff gets going, but eventually I think the Kindle and iPad will replace paperback books and print newspapers. It’ll take a few years though, just to let the prices come down.”
“I think the iPad will somewhat eliminate them, just because you don’t have to pull out a book. And now you can get books on your iPad and read them there. For some people who like technology, it’s definitely a good thing. It’s definitely more convenient, but it’ll still take a couple of years. The iPad just came out, so most people don’t have one yet. Prices are a big part of it, too; iPads cost a lot of money.”
“I honestly think that books are going to go out of style just because paperbacks are kind of old technology now. The prices for paperbacks are much less expensive, they’re way cheaper, while the iPad and Kindle are definitely way up there in prices right now. I think we should give it maybe about a year or so, or not even, until paper books are being replaced by the iPad and Kindle technology.”
“I have an iPod Touch, but I’ve never actually bought a book for it because it would hurt my eyes to look at a screen for hours and try to read the words off the screen. But then I guess TV is sort of the same thing. The iPad is supposed to be really cool, but it’s up there with all of this technology that I don’t have, and so I can see how it would be awesome. But it’s not really something I’d personally go for to read a book.”
Tyler Johnson sophomore
Haley McKellep junior
Michael Reesor senior
Savanah Seevers freshman
Siegel Chiropractic
SonRise Fitness Center
and Massage
“I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.”
3272 Hendersonville Rd 681-5681
Fletcher, NC
CHIROPRACTIC EXAM PLUS A 30
MIN. MASSAGE
($105 Value) WHEN YOU MAKE A DONATION OF
$20 (or more) Your Church’s TO BENEFIT
Food Pantry
Philippians 4:13
TERRY A. BAKER, N.C. PLS 3107 (828) 890-3507 Email: als88@mchsi.com Website: als88.com P.O. BOX 578 HORSE SHOE, NC 28742
James & Terri Heatherly, owners 828-808-6109 www.SonRiseFitness.com 20 Etowah Town Sq. Suite 10 Etowah, NC 28729
“Where the Son always Shines.”