Amazon recently announced a new Kindle, called the Kindle Colorsoft, which is set to ship October 30. While color features on a Kindle are exciting, I’ve had a Kindle Paperwhite for nearly a decade. I sometimes use my Kindle, but I always find myself going back to physical books. Here’s why…
1 I Don’t Use a Kindle Enough to Justify the Price
The Kindle Colorsoft is available for pre-order now, coming in at a whopping $279. I got my Kindle Paperwhite for about $100 almost ten years ago. While I use my Paperwhite occasionally when I’m traveling or if I want to read for a bit in bed, it’s not worth it to spend nearly $300 on a device that I realistically won’t use much anyway.
Also, ebooks cost money, so I’d have to sink even more money into this endeavor to even use the device.
2 My Local Library Has More Physical Book Availability
Because I mostly rely on my local library to read, I’ve found that there’s a much wider selection of physical books available at any given time. Typically, the wait times for popular digital copies of books are months long.
There’s a limit to the number of holds I can have on my library card at once, so I have to prioritize which books I truly want to read on my Kindle. Since these wait times tend to be ridiculously long, I usually just opt to pick up the physical copy which is more often than not available immediately.
Ebooks are already hard to get from my library, and I have a hard time justifying buying a digital copy because I’m not able to display them on my physical bookshelf. There are plenty of other downsides to buying ebooks instead of physical books, too.
3 I Can’t Use Screens Much Due to Eye Strain
A Kindle with color is a great idea, but I’m ultimately not the target market for it. One of the reasons why I bought a Paperwhite all those years ago was because it mimicked a sheet of paper. I struggle to read on screens due to eye strain and chronic dry eye, so I thought the Paperwhite would be easier on my eyes—which turned out to be true.
The addition of color on a screen would definitely cause these conditions to flare up, decreasing the amount of time I could spend reading on my Kindle. With physical books, I don’t have to worry about screen brightness or excessive blue light straining my eyes.
4 I Use Physical Books for Color Content Anyway
Finally, even if I was in the market for a new Kindle, I still prefer the black-and-white version over the color version. If I wanted to read a book in color, I would either buy or borrow a physical copy. My Paperwhite is merely a tool of convenience that I can whip out when I want to read on the road, not my main source of reading. I don’t use my Kindle for the purpose of viewing full-color book covers or action pages from graphic novels, so there’s really no draw for me.
While it’s exciting that Kindle finally has an option with color integration, I’ll have to pass on upgrading. I still prefer a physical book because I can see the progress I make when I put a bookmark in and display it on my shelf, on top of avoiding screens and paying for ebooks.
