The new "paper or plastic"

A friend recently posted the question on his Facebook page "Nook or Kindle?". Some folks offered up useful advice, but just as many felt the need to chime in with "REAL BOOKS!!" Sigh...

I often wonder about people who get upset when new technologies supplant the old. Do they still have rotary phones? Hell, do they still have a land line? When Verizon stops automatic delivery of phone books, will they call to get one? It's been a decade since I've even had one of those in my house. When I come home and find them on the porch, they go right into the recycling bin. I have an iPhone, why do I need a phone book? To quote the song, I've got the whole world in my hand. These strike me as the same kind of people who would've dwelt on the "loss" to society when cars replaced horse-drawn carriages.

As someone who is a habitual pack rat, even I see the value in not holding on to the past. My comic books are stored in digital format, along with my documents, ebooks, pictures and movies. As pointed out in an earlier article, if there's a fire in my house, I won't lose a single picture of my daughter. Can the Luddites say the same?

Look, I get it. There's a certain romanticism about books. Back when I had time in my days, I used to read as well. I love to read, but the reality is, actual books are inconvenient. Electronic books and publishing is the future, so you might as well start dealing with it. The last couple of books I've purchased were both ebooks. I read them on my iPhone when I had a moment or two. There are times I feel like putting the effort into finding pirated digital copies of every book I have and ditching the paperware versions. It would certainly make my wife happy, and certainly make moving a whole lot easier when the time comes.

And since some will wonder, my response to my friend's question was: iPad. Before the "fanboi" accusations start flying in, yes, I have an iPhone. But, I won't be going back to an iOS device for my next phone, I'm going Android. The Apple platform's just gotten far too restrictive and I have no interest in dealing with it anymore. However, an iPad wouldn't be my primary device so I could live with some level of restriction there. For my friend, for just a little more than the cost of either dedicated device, he could get an iPad, install both the free Nook and Kindle apps as well as a host of other apps and get a much better experience. I've seen the iPad's book readers, they're fantastic. The iBook app is brilliant, you really feel like you're turning a page with it. Personally, I'm waiting for the second gen of the iPad (With a camera, please, Steve! Seriously, what were you thinking?), but there's no reason the first gen can' t be a primary ereader.

Nope, I know I'm a technophile and I know others are not. But, when someone's making a decision between two new technologies, they're obviously not interested in hearing that they're destroying civilization and should stick with the old stuff. Because, really, that's what these people were saying. These kids these days and their new-fangled ebooks...