By Michael Wilford
It’s amazing what a pocket can hold these days: wallet, phone, iPod, and the Complete Works of Shakespeare. Yes, the electronic age is moving towards another takeover: America’s libraries. Before you judge this product, what if I told you the screen looks like a real page of paper? The Kindle is a full electronic device that allows a user to download full texts in a matter of minutes. Rather than being “just another screen” to stare at for hours, the screen of the Kindle looks just like a page from a book, including no glare (even in direct sunlight). The Kindle can hold up to 1,500 books in a little 10.2 ounce hand-held device.
The questions regarding the Kindle are similar to concerns expressed about iPod technology. “What if it breaks? Would I have to buy the same books again?” No, a record of your purchases are stored so you can reload the books. Another nice feature is it has adjustable text sizes. There is no color on the screen, just 16 shades of grey. Books download in minutes almost anywhere in the world. Kindle will also let you download the beginning of a book so you can see if it interests you. By now, you must be thinking, is this an article or an ad? Well, time for the cons of this item. Many owners say that its battery life indicator is poorly set up. It also has an extremely fragile build. It features poor contrast and the inability to adjust the screen. Other complaints have been leveled by groups fearing that the Kindle poses challenges to people with disabilities. According to CNN News, advocates of the visually impaired claim that the feature to activate the spoken transcipt for texts is not user-friendly.
The merge of electronic technology and the book moving forward with the Kindle and as more information is able to fit in one’s pocket, it seems fitting that the Complete Works of Shakespeare will take its rightful place next to our wallets and iPhones.
