I don't really have anything against new products. I understand that we no longer live in the 1950s when the strength of the American middle class was to save money. Now we need to spend as quickly as possible and keep money moving around so no one can ever truly understand how much we owe to China. So buy a Kindle if you want one, or even if you don't. But please buy something. Uncle Sam wants it.
But about Kindle: does it have a speaker to listen to the downloaded books. My Adobe Acrobat reader "reads" to me in a slightly retro sci-fi voice (currently "Michelle") that isn't close to a professional dramatic reading, but it gets the job done. Does Kindle do this?
I see from these specs that the answer it no.
"It also has an SD slot for additional storage, or for storing audio (either Audible books you've downloaded on your PC or MP3 files for background music) and a headphone jack."Is it difficult to include a tiny speaker in later models for that long drive? If it's able to download news and websites, I might want it to read to me.
At $399, would I be happier spending another $100 for a low-end notebook/laptop? But that could weigh 7 lbs. and be 3 times larger. For libraries, the laptop could be the better choice, so I find it odd when I hear opinions like this one:
"Ward (Peter, library director of the Lindenhurst Memorial Library) said that if the prices go lower and more patrons want it, "then certainly we will be required to get it."I don't think any library should ever be required to purchase anything, except soap in the bathrooms for our patrons to wash their clothes in the sink.
I can't stand manufactured demand.
I wish I could find an article I read once (from around 1981) about punk rock that referred to a new band named "Bloontz." (Oddly, there was a real band named Bloontz, so think the name in the article was a coincidence.) I think the point was that the guy was tired of hearing about a new, great band about every week and Bloontz was the generic name for them. It was about not being a sucker for trends, about being true to yourself, and included the reminder, "Marilyn Monroe died for your sins."
