I confess I have an iPad and I love it! It is the coolest gizmo I have ever seen. It is so easy to use even a technophobe like me figured it out quickly. I can download books easily from iTunes. I can read them anywhere I go and the book is always there. I can be reading multiple books at one time (as I often do) without having to remember if I packed it or where I put it. If I don't have my reading glasses handy I can just adjust the size of the text, no problem.
I still stand by my first love of real, printed books -- always! Now I just have more ways to enjoy them. In my mind I used to think that if I went digital I would be cheating on my Lov-A (as Carrie Bradshaw would say). It's like when you love you have more love to share. I love books and this way I can love more often and more easily. Now I have real books and I have digital books. I can have both and not feel like I am cheating on my boyfriend, named Book.
My iPad was a gift from a business partner and now I completely "get it." When I first saw his iPad I walked around muttering for days that I had iPad envy. Just what it can do with pictures is amazing. It imported the last twelve months of my iPhoto almost immediately. I could easily organize and scan through them so quickly it blew me away. I was able to view them in all of their megapixel glory on the full screen.
The features are wonderful. I can search anything, go to my webpages and keep up with social networking easily. I can download movies and watch them on a long flight without having to worry about the battery running out like on my laptop.
The only thing I can't do is work in a Word document. My laptop is still a working instrument for me to write my books and blogs, as it is too heavy to carry around just for the purposes of reading a book. I also wish it had a webcam so I could do Skype chats.
Now when I travel I am surrounded by cords. Between my phone, computer, laptop, camera, iPod and iPad, I have to double check my packing list to make sure I have every charger in my wired world. I have heard there is a master charger on the market somewhere, or was that just a dream I had?
I am still 100% certain that going digital will not make the printed book extinct. That was the prediction for the movie theaters when cable television made its way into our homes. I still believe there is a place in the world for the printed book. At least in my world (and my heart) there will always be a special place for my first love.
Arielle Ford has launched the careers of many NY Times bestselling authors including Deepak Chopra, Jack Canfield, Mark Victor Hansen, Neale Donald Walsch & Debbie Ford. She is a former book publicist, literary agent and the author of seven books. To learn how to get started writing a book please visit: www.HowToWriteMyBook.com