Thursday, January 28, 2010

I think I want an iPad...

I feel that I should preface this post: I haven't been through my book blog feeds to see what anyone else thinks of the iPad.

I'm an Apple fan. My 17" Macbook Pro survived for a month and a half after being thrown through our windshield (when we slid off the road in Wyoming and the van rolled twice). And though the motherboard did die earlier this week, everyone is shocked that it turned on at all after the trauma it sustained and then sitting in the snow for hours. Besides, I like Mac things' interfaces. I have an iPhone and adore it. My husband has two G5's for his video work.

So though we all knew what was coming next from Apple, I didn't expect to want one. I mean, on one hand, it's just a giant iPod Touch. On the other hand, it's a giant iPod Touch; I love those things.

I want one to read books on more than I'd want it for pictures or videos. I think. I'm a huge fan of the feel of a book in my hands, and I don't think reading books on an iPad would override my preference for traditional books, but as has been said before, for traveling, it would be a wonderful thing.

My first and foremost qualm though is this: I want to be able to buy e-books for whatever reader I've chosen from whatever source I want--so mostly, I'd want to buy them from Powells or another indie store. I have no idea what iBooks is going to be like, but from the scant bits I've read, it sounds like Apple will be running its own e-books store. No thanks.

And yes, I think the people who chose the name and decided to overlook the word associations people would make with maxipads in favor of choosing a name that looks and sounds like the beloved iPod may have made a bad call.

I also want to get one for my Grandma, who currently has an e-mail printer, but who I think would occasionally like to respond to e-mails, too.

5 comments:

bermudaonion said...

I really don't know what I would use one for, but I love gadgets, so of course, I want one!

Kathleen said...

The iPad sounds cool. I think I would love it. My only concern as far as the ereading aspect of things is the screen. I have a Kindle and love the non-glare screen. I took it to Hawaii and read out by the pool and on the beach and had no problems. If the iPad is like the iTouch this wouldn't work very well!

Jena said...

Kathleesn--I'm worried a little about that, too; I know Kindle users swear there's no eye strain with the Kindle, and I also know I can't look for too long at the iPhone's screen without having to look up--though I know people read ebooks on their iPhones, too.

I'd like to think that the Apple people have considered eye strain in their design... Guess we'll have to wait to hear more about it.

srichmond said...

I'm not sure about the iPad...poor name choice aside...although I love my iPhone.

You can get a static cling matte sticky thing to put over your iphone to get rid of the glare. They come 2 in a package. It's worth it.

Zibilee said...

My husband is a huge Apple fanboy, so he is very excited about the ipad. I just got a Kindle for Christmas, so I don't really need one of these, but they are cool to look at and I would love to try reading on one of them. If you do end up getting one, I would be interested in hearing about your experiences with it!