Technology to Go (plus a cute craft)

Thanks to all of your suggestions and advice, I finally made a decision on the great eReader debate and bought...a Kindle (2, to be specific). While I was attracted to the bells and whistles of the iPad, I simply didn't need all of its extras. And until I can use Word on the iPad, there is no way that it will replace my MacBook, which means I would have to carry around my laptop, my iPad, and my cell phone. That's just ridiculous. So the Kindle, which supplies exactly what I need but no more (for a substantially lower price) won out.

I know that this purchase makes me about as technology with-it as someone who just discovered the iPod, but it's a big deal for me, a print-devotee who thought she would never ever ever read books electronically. But so far, I'm pleased.

At some point I want to do an in-depth reviews of pros and cons (for those of you that are as behind-the-times as I am), but I feel like I need to give it more than a week before I form any definite conclusions. But after having finished one book on it, here are my first thoughts:

• I do find the reading to be very easy. I of course miss the feel of pages in my hands and the ability to flip through the book and smell the pages, but the reading itself is effortless and fluid, much more so than I expected it to be.
• Though I professed that I wanted eReader for fun, non-work reading that wouldn't require note-taking, the first book I downloaded and read was, of course, for my dissertation, meaning that I had to take notes on it. I was surprisingly pleased with how easy it is to highlight and insert notes (though the typing itself is a bit awkward, particularly inserting symbols, though I think that just takes some getting used to).
• I definitely need to play around with this more, but so far I am frustrated with how notes can be exported. I want to be able to take the notes from each book I read and find them in individual files that can be exported into a Word file. This can be done, but thus far it seems cumbersome.
• I miss color. It's not like the books I'm reading include a lot of illustrations, but, to me, book covers are art, and seeing them in black and white just doesn't cut it. But I love how book-like the Kindle's eInk technology seems, so I'm willing to sacrifice color for now. Plus, I know that if I read a book on the Kindle and it completely blows me away, I'll buy a paper copy anyway.
• Most disappointing is the price of the eBooks. While there are some bargains, the two books I've bought so far have only been a couple of dollars cheaper than a new paperback, if that. Right now I'm reading Lorrie Moore's A Gate at the Stairs. The list price (which is what the Kindle shows for comparison, though that seems like false advertising) is $25.95, but a hardcover from Amazon is $17.13, a paperback is $10.12, and the Kindle edition is $14.27. That's more than the cost of the paperback! I find that incredibly frustrating, but until something allows me to buy eBooks from anywhere to use on any eReader, I don't see that changing. Until then, I'll just grumble about it.

I also realized once I bought my Kindle (which I have named Kate...the Kindle) that I would need some kind of cover so that she wouldn't get bumped and scratched when I carry her in my bag. The average price of covers on Amazon was $30-$50, which was more than I wanted to spend, so I turned to the internet to see if I could make my own.

Sure enough I found a how-to on Junie Moon's blog. Her tutorial is for a Kindle 2 sleeve with a pocket on the back, which (obviously) means that you can't keep the Kindle in the case while reading. I didn't mind since I knew I would want to hold the Kindle itself while reading it, but if you want something you can leave the Kindle in, this isn't for you. Instead, check out this Moleskin Cover with Reporter Notebook. It's already on my Christmas list; how perfect would it be to have a notebook right there at all times? Moleskin for the win, as always.

But back to the Kindle sleeve I actually did make. The Junie Moon tutorial is incredbly easy to follow, though be sure to pay very close attention to the pictures and directions when you combine the front piece with the back piece; I had to rip quite a few seams on that one. But at long as you match your pieces up with the picture provided, you should be good to go.

I particularly love the pocket on the back (shown above), which can store the power cord, headphones, or (in my case, eventually) a little bitty notebook. Also, the tutorial says you can use flannel or fleece for the lining, but I used flannel. In part this was because I liked the flannel options I found better, but also because I read on a different blog (which I, of course, can't find now) that flannel will essentially wipe down/clean your Kindle's screen every time you put it in and out of the case. Now, this may be completely untrue, but it can't hurt, right?

So, for now, I'm a big fan of my Kindle, which is made all the prettier by the cheap and easy cover I made with my own two hands. I can't wait to take it to the beach with me next week, especially since this means I won't have to decide what to read beforehand. When I finish a book, I'll just download a new one. Convenience is a lovely thing.