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Chattanooga: Electronic reading devices growing in popularity

By: Clint Cooper
(Contact)

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Gail Bowman

Mary Lange of Nashville is considering another way of feeding her reading habit.

In addition to hardcover and paperback books, she has an Apple iPod to listen to downloaded audio books while gardening or taking car trips and a different MP3 player to listen to books she downloads from her local library because the iPod won’t work for those.

Now she is considering getting a Kindle, a wireless reading device from Amazon.com with a high-resolution screen that looks and reads like paper.

“I have books bleeding throughout my house,” Ms. Lange, accounting manager for the Vanderbilt University Office of Investments, said in an e-mail. “They are virtually crawling off the shelves and devouring rooms. The Kindle will help solve the problem of the creeping books.”

A Kindle is one of many electronic ways in which reading lovers have expanded their horizons from paper.

The use of electronic books in the United States grew 23.6 percent from 2006 to 2007 and saw a compounded growth of 55.7 percent from 2002 to 2007, according to the Association of American Publishers.

Paperback books, on the other hand, grew only 0.2 percent from 2006 to 2007, according to the organization.

The Kindle, which retails for $359, uses the same 3G network as advanced cell phones to deliver the books through Amazon’s Whispernet system. No computers, cables or synching are involved.

Magazines, newspapers and blogs also are available through the 10.3-ounce device. Most new releases cost $9.99 and are delivered in less than a minute.

Gail Bowman of Knoxville bought a Kindle in March and said she is now spending less money per book.

“But,” she said, “I am probably buying more.”

Ms. Bowman said she first saw the Kindle advertised in November, then watched news about the device for several months before buying one. She said Amazon’s 30-day return policy made it a “no-brainer” for her.

“I buy a lot of books,” she said. “It seemed like the thing to try out.”

Ms. Bowman said she travels in her job, so she often was carrying three or four heavy hardback books with her during a trip.

“I have my favorites (among authors),” she said, “so when one of their books comes out I want it now. With the Kindle, all you’ve got to do is click (a) button. It’s like having a virtual bookstore surrounding you at all times.”

At the Chattanooga-Hamilton County Bicentennial Library, 1,314 people are members of an online book club, said Barry Bradford, assistant library director.

Members of the club choose their favorite genre and Monday through Friday of every week get a five-minute selection from a chapter of the book via e-mail.

“It gets you into the book,” said Mr. Bradford, who is a member. “It gets you interested, then you can check it out (from the library).”

Members are free to select as many genres of books as they like and even can choose soon-to-be-published books, he said.

Mr. Bradford said the library partners with DearReader.com of Sarasota, Fla., at a cost of less than $700 a year, to offer the service.

He said the library has always had positive responses on the service but would like to offer more. He said officials would like to offer downloadable audio books or devices that have specific books on them.

A downloaded book, Mr. Bradford said, would be available on a virtual shelf. Once selected by a user, it could be listened to on a computer or uploaded to an MP3. It might stay accessible for three weeks, then would be disabled but could be checked out again, he said.

Devices that contain individual books, he said, “fit into the hand” and can “slide into pockets. They would likely use rechargeable batteries, and users would supply their own earphones, he said.

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