I was beginning to like the Kindle when Amazon decided that they wanted to focus on producing full-fledged Android tablets instead. They still make e-ink Kindles, but the cheaper ones have annoying ads, and the entire e-ink lineup feels like they've been neglected for the last couple of years.
I don't like LCD/LED screens for reading books, especially at night when my eyes are tired. Even e-ink is inferior to good ol' paper books, with their crappy contrast, crappy resolution, and ugly fonts that make every book look like just another blog using the same WordPress theme. E-books have a long way to go before they can match the beauty, natural feeling, and personality of a physical book. After all, physical books have been around for centuries. They are a mature technology.
Do you know how much time a good publisher spends trying to find the perfect paper, color, layout, and typography for a book? Do you ever notice the small paragraph at the end of a book where the typographer explains his or her choice of typeface and gives you a brief history of it? The cover is not the only part of a book that needs a designer. I sorely miss that touch of humanity when I read an e-book.
Another commenter says that novels are suitable for digital delivery. I disagree. An e-book might give me the same content, but it certainly doesn't give me the same experience, and a work of literature is really about the experience as a whole, not just the literal content.
Amazon really hasn't abandoned the e-ink Kindles. They continue to release a new one every single year, and the Paperwhites are solid improvements. It is only $139 for the no ad version (the first Kindle launched at $399). There is only so much visible change they can make until there is some leap in the e-ink technology so the yearly changes may seem smaller, but they are definitely committed and improving the kindle!
I don't like LCD/LED screens for reading books, especially at night when my eyes are tired. Even e-ink is inferior to good ol' paper books, with their crappy contrast, crappy resolution, and ugly fonts that make every book look like just another blog using the same WordPress theme. E-books have a long way to go before they can match the beauty, natural feeling, and personality of a physical book. After all, physical books have been around for centuries. They are a mature technology.
Do you know how much time a good publisher spends trying to find the perfect paper, color, layout, and typography for a book? Do you ever notice the small paragraph at the end of a book where the typographer explains his or her choice of typeface and gives you a brief history of it? The cover is not the only part of a book that needs a designer. I sorely miss that touch of humanity when I read an e-book.
Another commenter says that novels are suitable for digital delivery. I disagree. An e-book might give me the same content, but it certainly doesn't give me the same experience, and a work of literature is really about the experience as a whole, not just the literal content.