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.

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?

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.

I registered for the site months ago, and I remember it as a painful process. First, they require that your password is at least six characters long and contains at least one number and one letter. That’s fine – I tend to create cryptic passwords anyway – but for some reason whatever I was entering wouldn’t get accepted by Vodafone’s site and I ended up having to invent some bizarre password which I didn’t keep a record of and instantly forgot.

Again, that shouldn’t be much of a problem in itself because Vodafone offers a convenient “Forgotten your password?” page which allows you to reset your password by entering your mobile number and your date of birth. Pity it doesn’t work.

I’m reasonably confident that I know my own birth date, but I entered it three times in different formats (Vodafone suggests the newbie-confusing “Y-M-D” format, but I also tried “D-M-Y” and “M-D-Y”) and every time it rejected me. After the third attempt, it locked me out of the site for 24 hours. Great.

So now I have to top up using the over-complicated and tedious phone service system. But that’s another rant altogether.

As a result I’m becoming quite out of touch with sport, which makes a Sky subscription very tempting at certain times of the year. However, I’ve been refusing to subscribe for a few reasons:

1. The subscription options are poor. 90% of the reason I would subscribe to Sky is for sport, yet I can’t just pay for the sports channels.
2. It’s expensive, in my case. To subscribe to basic high-definition Sky with just sport, it’s over $90 per month. That’s a lot for a few extra hours of TV per week.
3. Nothing is negotiable. You can’t customise anything. You can’t “install” it yourself. You can’t get out of any fees.

The last one – nothing is negotiable – is the kicker for me. Sky won’t let you customise your subscription package to get rid of all the crap channels you don’t want. They won’t waive the joining/installation fee even if your residence is Sky-ready and you’re smart enough to plug in a decoder all by yourself. And, if you join whilst they’re running a “special deal” (at the moment it’s “only” a $50 joining fee for My Sky HD) then you’re tied in to the service for 12 months.

Personally I don’t think joining fees and minimum contracts are acceptable when it’s clear that they exist only for bonus profit. Sky has nothing to lose by allowing me to subscribe with no joining fee and no minimum term (perhaps with a 28-day notice of cancellation).  The fact that they outright refuse to negotiate is why I’m not going to be giving them any of my money any time soon.

Then again… I’ll still be missing it when the New Zealand/West Indies test match is on next weekend.

More information is available at the Daffodil Day web site.

Chances are incredibly high that you know someone who has suffered or is suffering from cancer. If you haven’t already given to the cause, I urge you to make a donation.

From an easy money standpoint, this might seem like a good idea. Unfortunately, like New Zealand Idol, Stars in Their Eyes and various other Kiwi-made bandwagon shows, this is doomed to be a failure for the simple reason that New Zealand hasn’t got talent.

Here’s my predictions:

• Performance distribution:
  • 60%: Rapping, beatboxing, hip-hop & breakdancing
  • 20%: Singing
  • 10%: Band/instrumental
  • 10%: Other
• The first season will have fewer acts and fewer episodes than its American counterpart
• There won’t be a second season.

Looking forward to it.

What is unfortunate however is the industry’s never-ending fascination with Flash-based sites. Waiting for a site to load and then not being able to cut and paste text or save screenshots to disk because the whole damn thing is rendered using Flash is not my idea of a good time.

I got a hilarious – and unprovoked – message over MSN today which pretty much sums up the situation I’m trying to describe:

/tries to grab a wallpaper image from lego indiana jones site

“You do not have enough points to buy this item. Go surf around the site and find more treasures.”

Oh ffs

Why so many site makers decide to glam up their sites at the expense of speed and usability, whilst simultaneously crippling people who are trying to use their assets to promote their game is beyond my understanding.

In this modern world where a large percentage of the population has an Internet connection, is it about time we started “opting in” to phone books?