Who wants a digital book?

Certainly not me. In theory, this is a good idea – no more mounds of paperback to take to the charity shop after being read umpteen times (and looking slightly dog-eared and tatty) and no more worries about weight allowance when you go on holiday (i.e. can I take all these paperbacks?)

But from what I have seen, this looks an expensive gimmick. Ok – so you can download all these books, and store even more on the system itself, but what happens if a particular author isn’t available in digital format (you just have to look at the Beatles – they’ve only just allowed i-tunes to put their stuff on line!) In a case like that, I would think that the only option would be to go straight back to the old fashioned method – going into a bookshop. Or, if you’re like me, trying to bookshop, failing to find what you were after, and heading straight for the Amazon website.

As you can tell, I’m not a big fan of this idea. And no – I’m not a technophobe in the slightest – I have an MP3 player, and am quite comfortable downloading my music from the web, and shopping from various sites (usually because I can’t get the stuff in the shop – Lush’s Retro range is a good example of this!)

But there is also the one major drawback – as far as I am concerned. The battery life. Unlike a book, it’s not always possible to find a powersource to charge the dratted battery. Plus, there is the added inconvenience that you can’t start reading on an aircraft until the seatbelt sign has been switched off – therefore negating the delight of reading through the take-off and landing phases (not to mention being able to ignore the patronising safety video that certain tour operators have decided to use!)

So, I guess that I won’t be rushing out to buy one of these things, as there are some things that are best left alone – and books are one of them

Ah well - time to call this quits - I need to get ready to settle down and watch Flash Forward on Five...

Back tomorrow.

Karen

Now some things you hold on to - and some you just let go
Seems like the ones that you can't have
Are the ones that you want most