by Sylvia McNicoll | Dec 17, 2012 | Sylvia McNicoll
Okay, I was beating a dead horse, trying to explain how Bill C11 affects writers, how school boards and ministries were trying to opt out of paying anything for copying and downloading copyright files under the umbrella of educational “fair dealing”. Mike Wallace, our Burlington (Conservative) MP seemed shocked to learn that universities and colleges also want to eventually opt out under said exemption. But he said copyright hadn’t changed in 30 years and this bill made both sides unhappy so he thought it was pretty fair. “It’s over and done with. There aren’t going to be any more changes.” I am paraphrasing. Well, I suggested to him, that we would be battling this in courtrooms for a long time.
But for today, Merry Christmas, peace on earth and goodwill to all.
by Sylvia McNicoll | Dec 12, 2012 | Sylvia McNicoll
Why not just buy both?
My ereader resembles my favourite toy: an etch a sketch. It fits a gazillion books and slips into my purse, most importantly, the version I have, allows me to make scribbly notes (that I likely can’t read later) on the text.
So why hasn’t it replaced the paperback novel in my heart?
Holding it seems like a one hand job but my fingers have to stretch uncomfortably to grip it. (World’s tiniest violin is playing, I can hear it in the distance). Using two hands feels…odd.
Okay, and I haven’t mastered downloading stuff on it because I don’t do it enough. Inevitably I want my resident tech at my side especially for library take outs.
One of the strangest disadvantages is that I tend to speed read on it. My screen may be the closest facsimile to paper there is but it’s still a screen which signals WORK to my brain. Years of editing makes me want to quick scan for errors.
I also don’t have a physical sense of how long the book is. Yes there’s a page count at the bottom but in my own Crush. Candy. Corpse for example page 4 goes on for 5 pages, a function of the font and text design no doubt.
When I read the paperback version, I physically sense when I’m half way through, there’s an equal stack of pages on either side of my hand whereas that 5 page for 1 thing on the eversion makes me feel I’m behind in my reading. I’m a victim of the Evelyn Woods school of reading where you’re supposed to scroll your eyes down instead of across in order to read more quickly. When I went
to school, reading was always a race. The ereader, with it’s narrower focus, seems to feed that psychosis. Faster and faster I gallop through story breezing through whole passages of delicious description.
Knowing physically where I am in a book affects how long I’ll read, especially at night. I may want to savour the last 20 pages and save it for morning alert reading. Or if it’s a bit of a thriller I may push on for the last 40 pages and loose some shut eye.
Gone with the ereader.
But there’s that fitting in the purse thing. I HATE when I’m made to wait anywhere and I don’t have a book on me. I end up reading the posters on the walls and the sales pamphlets. Instead, what I’d love is to have the paperback I’m reading on the ereader. I want the ereader to read it out loud to me when I have to take a break from the physical book to drive for example.
In other words, I want all versions of the book. I wouldn’t mind paying more for both e and soft but somehow want them packaged together. I think that’s in the works some.
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