I looked up the flight to India today and discovered that I've got a lot of time to kill on the plane.
... A lot.
Add to all that downtime my limited storage capacity and you have my moral dilemma. Would it make my life easier to buy a Kindle? (To be fair, I would probably buy one used, as suggested in this Slate article. Let's call it revenge for all of the used textbooks bought and sold on Amazon every day. )
On the plus side, it would be extremely convenient. I won't be able to shuttle more than a few books back and forth from the subcontinent. Buying books off of Amazon gives the publishing companies more money than if I get them out of the Central Public Library (which I frequently do).
Yet, the question that is always raised in discussion of the Kindle: what does their success say about the future of books?
Personally, I don't think literature is in jeopardy. I don't think that my job is in jeopardy. No matter how many repetitive tasks are outsourced, the strength of every publishing company lies in its creativity and its ability to create good content. The tricky part is applying creativity to meet your customer's demands, and finding a way to (fairly) profit from this. I believe that e-readers can satisfy those criteria. So why do I hesitate? Because, for me, buying a Kindle makes a statement.
If I weren't a book publisher, would I think twice about buying a Kindle? If I knew printed books weren't going to go away, would it matter how I take my in-flight entertainment?
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