At tonight’s NetGuide Web Awards it became more apparent than ever that the NetGuide Web Awards is little more than a popularity contest. We knew this in previous years – even the four times we’ve won the Best Online Shopping Site award – but criticism is easier to deliver when results don’t go in your favour.

Tonight, Mighty Ape won the award for Best Games-Related Site – an award that Gameplanet should have won –  and lost out to The Warehouse in the Best Online Shopping Site and Best New Launch, Relaunch or Innovation categories.

Now, not winning an award isn’t that big of a deal. I’ve already mentioned that the NetGuide Awards is a popularity contest rather than a recognition of true achievement. What is irritating is that The Warehouse is, by some margin, the worst finalist in our nominated categories.

This year NetGuide decided for reasons unimaginable to tell its voters who to vote for via a drop-down menu for each category. The list for Best Online Shopping Site included 1-day.co.nz, mightyape.co.nz and thewarehouse.co.nz. Now, tell me – if you’re Joe Average voter who doesn’t really shop online, who are you going to choose?

Disappointed.

Amazon has this week announced a new edition of its Kindle e-reader.  This latest device is also the first that will be available for distribution to New Zealand when it becomes available at the end of August.

Since my recent post regarding on the physical vs. electronic dilemma, I’ve been experimenting a little more with electronic purchases. I bought Torchlight, a fantastic Diablo-like RPG, direct from Runic, its developer. I bought several albums on iTunes that I’d been curious about for some time but not curious enough to need on CD.  And, more relevantly to this post, I bought some books from the Kindle Store.

My Nexus One phone and Windows PC aren’t exactly ideal reading devices, but I have found myself more willing to detach from the physical book than expected. With Kindle’s 6″ e-ink screen I suspect it will be very comfortable – and, indeed, bookish – reading fiction and story-based non-fiction.

It’s on that basis that I’ve decided to order a Kindle. I have an almost-overflowing shelf of books in my library – many that I really wouldn’t miss if they were in e-book format – and there’s a lot of books I’d like to read but haven’t purchased previously because I worry about clutter. Kindle solves these problems.

In case you’re considering making this decision for yourself, please consider these points first:

• The titles available to Asia Pacific are slightly limited. You should browse around the Kindle Store to ensure there are a large number of titles you are interested in.
• There’s a good possibility that there will be a quality tablet computer that doubles as an e-ink (or similar) e-reader in the next year or so.
• If you don’t care about eyestrain and want an e-reader now, buy an iPad instead.
• If you currently buy books from Mighty Ape, you’ve already made the right choice.

Yesterday’s post got me thinking. If I was to ditch buying physical CDs for the majority of my music, and instead start purchasing downloadable versions, what am I supposed to do with my old CDs during the transition?

Technically and legally, I should probably be either throwing them in the trash; or selling them, deleting all my existing digital versions, and re-buying the tracks on iTunes.

One of those options sounds wasteful, and the other sounds like a waste of time.

Is it really so bad if I donate CDs I no longer want to keep to the Salvation Army or similar? Or is sticking to the letter of the copyright law worth more karma points than helping a worthy cause?

As a 20-something who spends his weekdays typing code and fiddling with databases and internet servers, you’d probably assume I’d be an early adopter of an e-reader like iPad or Kindle. I’m not. I quite like getting something tangible when I pay for it – especially a book – and, one finished, adding it to my bookshelf for future reference or, in the case of fiction, neglect. (But wow, doesn’t it look nice on the shelf?)

The problem is, I can see myself falling into a trap of consumerism. As time goes by, I’m going to need more bookshelves. Then I’m going to need a bigger study. Eventually I’m going to need a bigger house. And, when the times comes to move, it’s much more work with all these extra boxes of books!

Production of these books isn’t exactly environmentally friendly either, with raw materials, printing and world wide distribution all adding up to a pretty large carbon footprint. Furthermore, the selection of titles is quite limited in New Zealand. Mighty Ape lists over five million books, but over 95% of those are not sourced locally. This means the distribution chain for most books is even less efficient than it could be. With no dedicated distributor, we need to import relatively small quantities of books multiple times per week to fill customer orders in a timely manner. Multiply the number of shipments by trucks, planes and courier vans. Oil business continues to boom.

By switching to an e-reader for the majority of my reading, I would solve these problems of house clutter and excessively lining Big Oil’s pockets. I would get books faster and, often, cheaper. Taking more than one book when travelling would become effortless.

But I’m still reluctant to do it.

To me, an extensive library of books is an awe-inspiring thing. I can happily spend hours browsing a large book store without looking for anything in particular. Flipping through a database of titles on a computer, iPad, Kindle, or even a cell phone, just doesn’t seem as entralling.

Physical books are sociable; you don’t mind people being able to see what you’re reading because it may lead to a shared interest. Hell, there’s even a vanity element in that reading a real book gives people you don’t know the impression that you’re doing something intellectual instead of mindlessly staring at yet another computer screen.

I’m scared I’ll lose this stubborn emotional attachment to physical books if I switch to an e-reader. The logical part of my brain thinks I’m crazy.

Much of this same logic applies to music and video games (and soon, movies?), as well. I have dozens upon dozens of console and PC games on disc, but only a few downloaded purchases. I have hundreds of CDs, but less than a handful of albums* bought with iTunes. The CDs are in boxes, and never looked at, but I continue to buy them. Shit!- I bought one today.

OK, so maybe I can drop the physical music infatuation. Maybe, once NZ Internet allows it and premium titles become downloadable, I can switch to virtual game purchases.

But books? I’m still not convinced.

Wait – perhaps I can argue that charging an e-reader’s battery contributes directly to global warming?

* I have never bought a “single” online, believing albums are meant to remain just that. That’s another topic.

See also: More Mighty Ape HQ photos.