11 June 2009
Ann Kirschner decided to conduct an experiment: which was the best way to read Dickens’s Little Dorrit? Paperback, audiobook, Amazon Kindle or its larger cousin the Kindle DX, or iPhone? The results are somewhat surprising.
As one might expect, the tried-and-true paperback fared well. It was easy, convenient, and one had the ability to make and keep marginal notes.
The audiobook version also did well—although audiobook quality is highly variable depending on the skills and appropriateness of the narrator. Kirschner particularly liked the fact that the narrative pace was out of her hands. She was along for the ride, unable to skim or skip ahead, which immersed her more fully into the story. Audiobooks also let you do other activities, like jogging or cooking, while listening.
The surprise comes with the comparison between Kindle and iPhone. The Kindle just didn’t measure up in Kirschner’s opinion. The Kindle’s battery life was nice, but the larger screen was not compelling enough to justify its use. Reading on the iPhone’s smaller screen was not a problem and the fact that your iPhone is always with you is a killer advantage. It’s not that the Kindle is bad; it’s just that the good doesn’t balance out with the inconvenience of having to cart around yet another electronic device. Plus, any Kindle e-book is also available for the iPhone.
I’ve long been skeptical of e-books, thinking that there was a place for electronic publications, but that they would never really replace the printed word. The printed newspaper and many magazines and journals might disappear, as would print versions of dictionaries and encyclopedias, but paper would remain the medium of choice for novels and other works. Now, having had an iPhone for nearly a year and having played with my friends’ Kindles (I don’t own one myself), I’m beginning to doubt my original conclusion. Print may indeed be disappearing.
