A perfect afternoon with my kindle, under the umbrella on Maui’s Ka’anapali Beach.
The Lady gave me a great Christmas gift in 2010. It changed the way I read.
I am a voracious reader.
Prior to December 25, 2010, when I went on a business trip, I had to carry many paperbacks with me so that I had enough books to read while I was gone. If I was going to be out for several days … I carried several books. Four books was kind of my default. If I needed more than six books, I would take six and buy the rest at airports along the way.
But there was a better way.
With the kindle, I could buy books when I wanted, load them wirelessly, and read at my leisure.
I stopped buying paper books in 2011. I was not alone: Amazon.com is now the leading book retailer, and in 2014 they had a 65% share of electronic books.
I love my kindle. And then … one day, it wouldn’t wake up. I charged it. I searched for online solutions. I took it apart. I charged it again. Nothing worked. My kindle was not dead – the screen still had the screensaver – but it would not boot.
No kindle for my next trip.
Luckily, I had recently upgraded my smartphone, and part of my new package was Samsung tablet … and I quickly found a kindle app for that. I downloaded all of my books, and I was ready for my trip. Got to LAX, checked my bag … which had my tablet in it. I realized 3 minutes too late that my perfect plan for reading on my tablet was done for.
Plan B: I could read on my smartphone. Again, I had an app for that. And, come to find out, the smartphone automatically synced my titles in the Amazon cloud, so I always had an electronic bookmark in the book I was reading, whether I was reading on my tablet or the smartphone.
Come to find out, 5 year old technology (kindle 3) is sometimes not as good as new tech. My reading experience is now MUCH better, as I seamlessly move from smartphone to tablet & back again.
It’s good to learn new things … like how to read. Can’t imagine what I’ll learn next!