The march of technology

[caddyman]

Finally after all this time I have decided to read some Sherlock Holmes stories. I’m not sure why it’s taken me so long to get around to it – possibly because the only copies of the stories I ever owned were printed in an unwieldy huge volume complete with pictures from the original Strand Magazine. Furtle has a collection that is even bigger, over three impossibly big volumes. They are splendid to have on the shelf, but impractical for general reading.

I downloaded the iBooks app for iPhone and, courtesy Project Gutenberg, downloaded The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes and The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes. I am part way through the former.

I have to say that they are quite readable and they come at my favourite price: free.

They have also forced me to re-evaluate my opinion of electronic books. When Amazon released the Kindle, I wasn’t sure that I saw the attraction. At least Apple’s iPad does other things too, but the Kindle at least as far as I understand it, is simply an eBook reader. Anyway, having managed quite happily to read on such a small platform as my iPhone, I am warming to the idea of having a mobile library in the same way I have all my music available to me on my iPod. I don’t think that I would wish to replace all my books with eBooks: I love the damned things too much, but for straight forward portability, a single device with a dozen or so paperbacks beats a dozen or so paperbacks hands down.

I guess the next step, is to wait until products like the Kindle or iPad have enough memory to hold a few movies or seasons of my favourite TV series, a few dozen books and about 20,000 songs and with a battery life of days rather than hours and are made available at a price rather less than my immortal soul and I’ll be well set for portable entertainment.

At least until the first time I drop it or spill a drink on it, of course; in that case, we’re back to the inevitable conclusion that sometimes low-tech values of the original Gutenberg/Caxton variety are best. You can read a squidgy paperback. A waterlogged Kindle is a paperweight.

Comments

[bluesman.livejournal.com]

Yes indeedy, those Sherlock Holmes stories are gripping indeed. I can see why many film versions of Hound of the Baskervilles have been made. It's just a rip-roaring yarn. Much better than the usual wordy Victorian stuff that a chap has to wade through.

"Watson, the game is afoot!"

[agentinfinity.livejournal.com]

I find that reading from a screen strains my eyes so I tend to skim read after any legnth of time. I used to think this was a normal thing but clearly the rise in e-books shows me I am merely a puny relic of a paper-based past.

[romney.livejournal.com]

You may try my Kindle out at the weekend and see what you think. It's got Sherlock Holmes on it as well, so you can do a taste test (does not involve actual taste)