I have wondered about that myself. Right now, I’m just the right sort of nearsighted so that I can read my kindle with the font size at 2 or 3 without glasses or contacts (like before bed).
But as I age, that may not be the case, and I’ve often wondered if they’ll ever come out with an e-reader with the e-paper display that’s say… 6"x8" or with some other larger dimensions than the regular Kindle.
The Kindle Oasis was their ‘big’ option, with a 7" screen, although the baseline has creeped up to 6.8" right now, and at the $250 price point, I don’t think it was a particularly popular option.
Which is why even though it’s not battery friendly, and I prefer to read the e-ink option, I often end up reading on the 10’ Kindle Fire.
Since they seem to mentally put the e-ink options in the ‘paperback’ mental box, something you throw in a purse / backpack / workbag, I don’t think it’s likely to see a larger dedicated reader, but would love to be wrong!
Years ago, they sold the Kindle DX with a 9.7" display. I imagine they could start making a larger e-reader again, if they thought there was enough demand for it.
I like the size of the regular/paperwhite Kindle, because it fits in my pocket.
I overall agree, which is where I think their mindset is to keep it roughly the size of a paperback. And don’t get me wrong, I love it, especially the waterproof nature so I don’t worry about carrying it around anywhere, anytime.
I do think at some level though they’d love to push everyone to the Fire line, since it’s a better option to sell their customers the whole Amazon product line - MP3s, Movies, Prime Subscriptions, as well as books.
Which is probably why the Fires of various sizes and ilks are almost always on some level of sale (often 50% during major sales) while the Kindle Readers are higher priced and see fewer sales by comparison.
I’ve had a couple different versions of the Kindle, and every now and then I try it again to see if I like it. Maybe it’s time again.
But I love the look and feel of a real book. I like the act of turning the page. I like inserting the bookmark when I’m done reading. I like seeing the bookmark move slowly toward the back of the book over time. I like seeing the current read sitting on my bedside table, with several more standing by next to it, waiting their turn.
And I love the look and the function of a full bookcase.
I don’t hate the Kindle, but I don’t love it in the same way I do actual books.
mmm
It’s my understanding that Amazon doesn’t have any “ownership” of the e-books it sells; the publisher does. (And it’s up to the publisher whether or not their books are sold with DRM.)
With a physical book, you don’t own the words—the copyright holder does—but you own the physical object. You can do what you want with that object, including give it away, lend it, or sell it. But if it gets lost or stolen or destroyed, it’s gone.
With an e-book, obviously there is no physical object to own. What you own is the right to download and read the book, which I don’t think they can “take back at any time,” but that depends on whatever the license agreement says.
I spent my life having a lot of books - I had 3 tall bookcases in my living room, another 2 or 3 lower ones plus multiple boxes of books in my basement. Every time I ended up in a mall with a bargain bookstore, I came home with a bog or two, and there was an online bargain bookstore I bought from a few times a year. I probably checked at least 20 books out of the library per month.
And then, around 2011 or so , I got a Kindle. I continued to buy actual printed books for a while - and then I found out the libraries lend ebooks. I got cards to the other two libraries in NYC , because they had a larger selection of ebooks. I started to get rid of the books in my house that I had already read , which I mostly kept around in case I ever somehow ended up with nothing new to read. Now, the only books I have left are the last bunch I bought from the discount places.
I’m not going to say I will never read a printed book again, but I prefer the Kindle for a lot of reasons. I don’t have to worry about bad lighting. It’s small enough to carry pretty much whenever I leave the house, unlike hardcover books. And possibly most importantly - I read a lot and I read fast. A few years ago I traveled to Tel Aviv from NYC with my sister and brother. It was about an 11 hour flight and we were staying a week. My sister was shocked that she and my brother were reading paper books, and I, the big reader in the family, was reading a Kindle. But for two 11 hour flights plus spending a week there, I would have had to pack at least five books, and I would have preferred ten. Not that I would have read ten, but if I only brought five and didn’t like three of them, two books would not have been enough - I probably read two books on one flight.
I don’t buy a lot of books these days - mostly it’s an occasional used one on Amazon, or I get a batch at the library.
I spend too much time staring at a phone or laptop screen as it is, so I’m not interested in a Kindle or anything similar. The eyestrain factor seems greater compared to reading printed pages.
For e-book fans who enjoy that format, have at it. Sneer at “dead tree books” while you’re doing so.
It’s so precious. 
Hey! No one here has done that. We’re all book lovers.
A Kindle has no advantages for me – I don’t go anywhere much, so I don’t need portability, I rarely read fast the way I used to, devouring a novel in a couple days. I sold most of my library when I moved across the country and do not miss it. I buy used books (very cheap, they are), or borrow from the library or from one of the little pocket libraries dotted around here. Real books are like stick shifts – it is a way of retaining personal tactile connection with the world, which is swiftly becoming a rare commodity. I intend to hold on to that connection with both hands as long as they’ll allow it. I also write pen and ink letters …
Oooh! I get to be the dissenting voice!
I can’t stand Kindles or other readers. For some reason, the act of flicking to the next page just jolts me out of the movie that’s playing in my head. The act of turning the page in a physical book doesn’t do that, but the screen blanking, then the new text appearing if even for a fraction of a second, just makes the head-movie stop.
Yes, I’ve tried. I’ve done first-generation Kindles, the … whatchamacallit other service, and then the Kindles from 3 years ago and last year (I borrow my sister’s device. She loves them). Not a fan.
I used to be an avid book reader; now I’ve transitioned mostly to audiobooks. The only “dead tree” books I have bought recently are either weird cookbooks or Warhammer rulebooks (now THERE is a format that wouldn’t work as an audiobook…)
I really need to try a Kindle.
I collect those too. OTTOMH Special Effects cookbook, Spam cookbook, Skippy peanut butter cookbook, Mini ketchup cookbook, To Serve Man A Cookbook For People (seriously. I have a signed copy), Joy Of Jello, and Necronomnomnom
I have the Necronomnomnom as well; most of the other ones I bought as gifts for my kids; the D&D Adventurer’s Cookbook, a Fallout cookbook, and an Elder Scrolls cookbook. Kids also brought some some World of Warcraft cookbooks, and the last time I was at the local game store, I noticed that cookbooks are becoming the new Monopoly; every IP will be represented, eventually, and will likely all be copies of each other with just the recipe names changed…
For years I used to read ebooks back when that meant reading them on the 160x160 pixel screen of a Handspring PDA.
I might make the switch to e-books at some point, but haven’t done so yet.
First, I have so many positive associations with books-as-objects, going back to my childhood. Bringing a heavy tote bag full of novels home from the library is one of the simple joys; and sitting in bed with my stack is also lovely.
Second, going back to the library, I read mostly library books; and the selection of physical books is better than the e-books through my library.
Third, my first e-book was something written by a casual friend; and although I like him personally, he’s an unabashed hack. My emotional associations with e-books are that they’re pulp, which is of course stupid, but try telling that to my monkey brain.
My daughter reads almost exclusively e-books, and maybe someday I’ll make the switch, too. There’s nothing (except for availability via my local library) to recommend paper books, but I’ll need to switch my emotional attachments.
I wasn’t sneering. I was just curious because I happen to love my Kindle a lot, but based on the commentary around here, that seemed unpopular so I asked if I was alone in that.
are there any stables or children’s hospitals near you?
As a horse owner and a retired hospital librarian, I can safely say neither stables nor hospitals want your used books. Hospitals are paranoid about germ transmission, and horse crazy kids don’t read. My barn had piles of horse books and magazines that gathered dust until they were pitched.
Send your books to betterworldbooks.com. Address at the website.
Just want to point out that a Kindle eReader, as opposed to a Kindle Fire tablet, uses electronic paper and is not backlit (it reflects ambient light the way that paper does), so it does not produce the kind of eyestrain you get from your phone or laptop screen. Functionally it’s the same as reading a paper book.