Virginia McCord: photographer Melissa McCord, published in 'Honestly Woman' magazine 2008

I am part of a small and very active women’s email group who have been connecting that way for many many years. Their common thread at the start was their rural and reginal Australian working lifestyle. Some still maintain that life: others have moved away or retired. All are fascinating, smart, worldly, and more.  

I recently enjoyed the following email insights into the uptake of new technologies by these women who represent a wide wide “mature” reading audience – reproduced here with their permission:

“another attraction of the Kindle — waiting in shopping centre for Hubby to return from the Industrial miles, I was able to download another book & start reading — also good when having to wait in car outside h’ware or other shops while parts are purchased, just bring out the Kindle and catch up on reading !!!”

“I could also add now that I know more about Kindle reading, there is no need for a light nearby with iPad – it is black print on white background and is so easy on the eyes – easier for me than reading newspaper printing – and so light to carry.”
           
“I can say that reading on iPad is a joy.”      

“I’ve very impressed with all the welinkers who are very up there with the latest technology! I’m interested to know what the experience of reading a book with a Kindle is like compared with the paper version. I much prefer to read a long document in printed form compared with on a computer screen. But I can certainly see the advantages of using a Kindle while travelling, to save paper and to access books very cheaply (once you’ve bought the device). It will be interesting to see how much they take off in the future. Interestingly, on my most recent overseas travels I only saw one person using a Kindle on board a plane. There have often been predictions of the demise of the book but they seem to be just as popular as ever in the old fashioned format.”

“I think it’s a generational thing.  Much as I hate to acknowledge the age thing my daughters tell me that that’s the reason.  Older people are always simply going to feel more comfortable reading in the paper form no matter how familiar we have become with the newer technology because our brains are hard-wired differently.  My observation is that our daughters, who grew up with computers, are much more intuitive in using them although they both read (traditionally) a great deal. Of course, just to disprove this theory, our son who is technically a GenY appears to be a Baby Boomer lost in time!”

“My 87 year old mother reads an e-book as she can increase the font size and see it.  She still gets library books but keeps the e-book for when she runs out and the mobile library service is not yet due. I download any new books for her though.”

“(My husband) gave me a kindle for Christmas and it arrived Friday – he also bought the leather cover with reading light – so any tips from Kindle users are welcomed!
I have not really had a chance to do much but I had an Audible book it transferred straight away – it will be wonderful for travelling and I love having a book with me all the time – when waiting for (son) to get his Ls in town on Friday I read about 20 pages – my sneak reads I say!
I also have a small laptop – a Vaio – and I love it for working when away – although I have been known to lust after an iPad, I can’t work out why there is no USB port!!!
The Vaio is good for emails and working with documents but the iPhone gets me through a lot. I loved the look on the boys faces last night when I was reading out Granny Ann’s email about reading the Sunday Mail by 5am – I then told the boys your age – they were suitably impressed!!”

“Generation thing or not my granddaughter (9 1/2) in USA is ecstatic with her iPod shuffle and working on the computer. What does she think of the 3 (print) books I bought her new on Amazon.com. “Oh Nana there is nothing like the smell of a new book.” I just LOVE it. I know what she means.
She won’t get the same thrill out of a kindle I guess unless they add new technology.
I also wondered about the price of the books for kindle etc. Can you share them or you pay for you only? My books do the rounds of friends.”

“The iPad has an auto-brightness feature that adjusts to available lighting or you can turn it off.  It also has a feature called ‘white on black’ which allows you to view the screen in negative which I find useful in bright light or at night. I’m beginning to sound like an iPad salesman but it’s just what I know.  I believe the Kindles (and others) are improving features all the time and I’m sure will share these features soon if they don’t already.  The one big advantage I can see for the iPad is that you can download apps for Kindle, Borders, Angus & Robertson and others (mostly free) which allows you to draw ebooks from a lot of different sources not just the one that belongs to the device you own. That was the original limitation in choosing one – I suppose the trade off is the larger size.”

“I don’t know about other libraries but I know that the Gold Coast library has e-books that you can download through the library catalogue online. Perhaps this is another way of getting access to books. Check your local library.”

“My problem with Kindle and the like is the cost – not of the machine – that’s not that bad – but of the books themselves. At the moment I can get any book in the entire WA State Library catalogue for free on interlibrary loan (even books from the far north). Until I can download in the same manner, I can’t afford to buy books.”

“That was why I didn’t pursue one too … Any I looked at that I wanted were $20.  We have library books that we can access on the side road down from us and in Florida it is just around the corner and costs nothing to take out books 24/7. The door is always open and we just walk in take a book, read it and take it back.  They have lots of books. Unfortunately they aren’t the best books. Have to go to the local library or the bookmobile for those.” (Rural America)

Bev Ryan