Kindle Killed the Book Store.

7n… Well, not really.  Not yet, at least.

This is not and will not evolve into some bash or rant against the Kindle.  I happen to love the concept.  It’s clearly proven to rein the uninterested readers into a reading frenzy, as proven by a brief article I wrote a year or two ago in which I interviewed a handful of people who all claimed the same thing… that they read SO much more now.

If it wasn’t them it was their mother, if it wasn’t their mother it was their friend – regardless, some individual picked up an eBook and discovered the magic of written word.

And in an age of technology this advanced, instead of rebelling and being a stubborn stick in the metaphorical mud, you’ve gotta move with the change (to a cautious extent) and settle on the fact that that’s how solutions happen these days.

People discover reading books through computerized shit.  Alright, whatever.

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So as I mentioned a few posts back, I spent some precious moments with a fancy new iPad.  During this time, I started to see the light, so to speak, of just what it is that makes those things so damn worth it.

Said precious moments made me consider the possibility of making one giant jump into the tech pool and invest – (or kindly request a loved one to invest for upcoming birthday) – in an eBook.

*le gasp!*  I know

I didn’t want to jump right into iPad territory.  Not only are they twice as expensive as your basic eBook, I just didn’t need all the cumbersome functions.  Yes, it’s more convenient than lugging around a laptop, but as long as my Macbook is still running there’s no need for any fancy tablet/psuedo-computer number deux.

I’m an avid reader, I get adrenaline rushes every time I finish a book.  Does that put it in perspective for you?

So the prospect of a Kindle or Nook (Barnes and Noble’s slightly more functional version) was exciting.  I thought, finally, i’m going to own something that I enjoy AND is socially on trend!  Two birds, one stone. HIgh five?   Anyone?…..

So birthday came and went (loved one’s my ass) and I began to dim in excitement.  I was all of a sudden convincing myself that tablets were too new and experimental anyway and I should wait…..

..But I kept searching through all these Etsy pages, finding new and beautiful creations to stuff my non-existent eBook into.  Because honestly, choosing the case was more than half the fun for me.  In fact, i’m convinced my spark to invest in all this was motivated at least 65% by the case options.  [The perfect case that never was]

Anyway, here I am, feeling for the first time so old school with my paper backs and hard covers, unpacking into my new apartment and I decide I need a reading break.  (I needed a reading break from the books…? do you see the irony there?  Because I didn’t.)

On break, i’m catching up on reading some news, and catch a little story about Netflix killing the video store.

[Music break- VIDEO KILLED THE RADIO STAR - I had to.  Were you not expecting it?]

How the bastards did it... Dailyinfographic.com

I nodded through the entire article.  It struck me.

I was baffled when I moved to Chicago 4 years ago and I suggested to a potential new friend to swing by the rental store for a movie.  She scoffed.  (There’s a reason I specified “potential” friend)

I’m totally comfortable passing that judgment as I am not a Netflix user and after realizing how it did in fact kill rental stores and the fun of venturing out and buying movies, I won’t be any time soon.  Blockbuster is nostalgic for our generation now.  Pathetic.

But it got me thinking.

I started to look at my pile of books, no shelf yet, looking beautiful in their unprecedented tragedy.  A pristine pile of colorful, glossy book covers, mangled in each other and i’ve read every single one of their pages.

I could never imagine a day where I didn’t have the option to waste time in a book store.  Lazily dragging myself through isles of books i’ve never heard of or never touch is an adventure to me, and seeing the demise of the book store, let alone supporting the demise of a book store, would literally kill parts of me inside.  I would shit organs. For real.

So, in the end, no Kindle.  No tablets.  No perfect jacket to slip over it and strut around with.  I just can’t.

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