A Tablet for Christmas…
Happy New Year!
After a lovely Christmas break, it’s now back to the reality
of uni, work and eating only three meals a day. But stepping into 2013 I feel a
different person… I am now the owner of a very beautiful Nexus 7 and can start
a real comparison of print vs. digital.
The Nexus 7
Nexus is the Google tablet and is, as far as my
non-technological eyes can tell, very similar to an iPad. I’ve downloaded all
sorts of apps (including Star Wars Angry Birds!!) and am enjoying everything on
the internet being available at the touch of the screen. It’s clearly a useful
device, with my entire life stored in calendar events and linked with emails, and
it is a very
convenient way of transporting a lot of books.
But what about the reading experience…? What does it matter
if I can take 50 books on holiday with me, if I won’t get the same satisfaction
out of reading them? I was pleased to realise that the Google Play books
actually do have the effect of turning a page, unlike the Amazon Kindle books
in which pages just slide across in a mechanical fashion. I’ll go on to explore
these issues over the next few months, but as usual, feel free to object and
comment… there’s definitely a debate to be had!
First Thoughts on Reading
My first reading experience on the Nexus was a free short
story by Sophie Kinsella, an author I used to absolutely love during the Shopaholic days. The story Six Geese A-Laying was mildly entertaining
and filled a quiet half hour over the holidays, but wasn’t exactly a thrilling
read. The marketing strategy, therefore, of including the opening chapter of her
February 2013 release in this free eBook was clever, but ineffective… If I’m
honest I didn’t even read it! The short story wasn’t actually good enough to
persuade me to read the free extract, let alone to buy Kinsella’s new book. Now,
I remember the cheesy, chick-lit nature of her earlier novels, but I’m sure the
quality was considerably better than the rushed together, disappointing Six Geese A-Laying. This raises one of
my biggest worries with e-publishing – is quality sometimes overlooked?
Obviously, this was a marketing tool for Transworld
Publishers and could only be given the amount of time or money available within
their marketing budget. But promoted as a free Christmas gift for Sophie
Kinsella fans, it was kind of like expecting a lovely new scarf and gloves set,
and instead getting a pair of socks. Maybe I’m being spoilt – why should I
expect quality if I’ve not even paid for it? Everything free on the internet
can hardly be called ‘quality’, and we have no issue with browsing through
that. Or maybe I’m being snobbish, because I’d actually rather not think of
books in association with the free stuff the internet has to offer. Books are
better than that.
To flip this argument on its head, if I was given a free
promotional short story in print format, I’d probably expect the actually
physical quality to be poor and I don’t think this would bother me... It’s free
after all! The fact is that with e-reading, all you have are the words on the
screen and so, if anything, the quality
of that content needs to be better. Otherwise, books really will get mixed
up with the rest of the internet’s junk.
Verdict
I have to admit, I found the reading experience
better than expected… I set the appearance of the pages and font to as close to
a book as I could, and got lost in the words almost as much as I would in a
print book. It is also ridiculously easy to use, so I didn’t feel like I had to
plough through technology to get to the book. Having said that, reading in my
favourite spot in the conservatory was a no-go because of lighting issues, and
it really bugged me that I couldn’t just flick through to see where the chapter
ends. The other thing I’ve already noticed myself doing (subconsciously I think)
is only buying chick-lit or crime type fiction on the Nexus, things that I really enjoy for
simple entertainment value, but will probably forget in the weeks after
reading. If it is a good book, I would still buy it in print.
