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By Paul Biba

That’s the title of a post from bookofjoe. Joseph Stirt runs one of the most unusual blogs on the web, but he’s not a technofreak. That’s why I found his post about the iPod Touch so interesting. We are all pretty much “initiated” on this site, so it is useful to see the opinion of someone who doesn’t have a vested interest in this stuff. Go over and take a look. I’m leaving the part about the cat out. You’ll have to read that on Joe’s site:

6a00d8341c5dea53ef010536f70b0f970b-150wi.jpgLong story (precisely 256 pages, exclusive of acknowledgments) short: It works.

What I like about it:

• Portability (obviously) — though I’ve only got two Kindle store books on it now, there’s room for plenty more.

• Accessibility — a consequence of portability; anytime, anywhere, whenever the mood strikes, you can read your book. So far I’ve done so in line at the post office and supermarket, dentist’s office, vet, waiting for people, etc.

• Privacy — no one knows what you’re reading. All books look alike on an iPod touch, to anyone watching.

• Readability — nice, crisp font, sized for the device so as not to attempt to cram a full book page onto the screen all at once.

• Versatility — bright, backlight white screen with black type makes reading in dark or poorly lit places a non-issue.

• Speed — free Kindle reader app and Kindle store for iPhone makes downloads very fast (the book appears on your device ready to read within seconds of buying it. Of course, that’s with WiFi. I can’t speak about 3G.

• Affordability — $9.99 for the Kindle editions I’ve purchased, as with most books available; cheaper than buying the actual book from Amazon.

• Availability — feel like reading a certain book, or bored and in search of a diversion, or just heard about a book you want to perhaps read? Instantly you can get the first chapter free via the Kindle store and decide if it’s worth buying the book. That, to me, is the most powerful thing about it: a 24/7/365 bookstore no matter where happen to be (with WiFi). And even without, you’ve still got your downloaded books anytime you want them.

 
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