Baseball-gloved, diamond-studded and oven-mitted hands alike have all been reaching for the latest editions of Nook and Kindle. These eReaders have taken off by storm, but with any new product, there are the lovers and the haters.
Alex Hershon, an incoming freshman at Washington College is an avid fan of the Kindle. He says that the “number of books that can be held on a Kindle or Nook at one time (over 2,000)” is amazing and they even tend to have “lower prices on books than if they were in print form” (including textbooks!). Hershon also explains that the Kindle can “even read some books to you if the publisher or writer has allowed it.”
Sharai Rivera, rising senior at Fordham University, says that her story with the Kindle is a happily ever after kind of story. “The first book I read on it was Twilight, and I fell in love after reading just a few pages. The device made my life simpler almost immediately because I did not have to carry around such heavy volumes of text anymore.”
Katie Cooper, rising sophomore at McDaniel College, says that the Kindle is a “good tool for readers who want to purchase books quickly without going to the bookstore” and for learning “what they like to read.”
Nathaniel Margolies, rising sophomore at Washington University in St. Louis, is a fan of all of the features on the Kindle’s screen. He mentions “changing font size, percentage done,” and more. Margolies says, “It really is as easy as reading a book.”
Lucy Qian, rising junior at Indiana University of Pennsylvania, is the sour apple of the group. She says, “The reason why I don’t want [an eReader] is purely because I really like holding the weight of the book in my hand and physically flipping the pages of the book. Even though I tend to like really modern things, I find that I’m more attentive to reading if I have an actual book rather than a thin eReader in my hand.”
Brick and mortar bookstores can thank Qian and all of the other opponents to eReaders, but it does look like they are here to stay.
