Has trading TV shows replaced swapping books?
I would never refer to myself as a big reader, even though I do thoroughly enjoy a good novel. Fiction books are a little bit like vitamins to me. I take my vitamins religiously until the bottle runs out. Unfortunately, when that happens, it can take me ages before I remember to buy some more. In the same way, when I get into a good novel, I often find it difficult to put down. When I’ve finished the book though, I can go a long time before I pick up another.
When we do read novels, we do so on our Kindles. We each have an older one, but if I was buying new today, this is the one that I would get.
Disclaimer: The events and incidents described in this post are fictitious. No identification with actual persons, places, buildings, and products is intended or should be inferred.
I’m not going to suggest that reading is no longer popular amongst cruisers, because that would simply be crazy. I will say though that rather than trading books, the popular thing amongst cruisers these days is swapping portable hard drives filled with movies and TV shows. Yesterday afternoon, while relaxing with some cruising friends in the pool at Secret Harbor Marina (yeah, life can be rough), one of the subjects being discussed was the Sport of Chairs TV series. Just prior to arriving to the marina, we had pulled up alongside our friends’ boat where the topic of conversation was Stumbling Zombies, a series that we’re all caught up on but our friends are only just now watching.
The TV show that we’re presently watching is Dark Canvas. We’ve only just started.
We have never really been that much into TV. In fact, when we were selling our stuff prior to cruising, canceling our satellite TV service, and getting rid of our (3) televisions was top on our list. I will admit though that we do enjoy chilling out many nights by watching a show or two. Normally Rebecca and I will lie in bed and watch a show on my laptop. Alternatively, if the weather is nice, we’ll sit up on deck and watch the show under the stars. We refer to that as “sitting on the patio,” and it reminds me a bit of going to a drive-in movie. You remember what that’s like, don’t you? 🙂
Movies and TV shows are best watched with hot popcorn!
I grew up in Montreal. During the 50’s and 60’s the Catholic church in Quebec held sway over the provincial governments and managed to keep drive ins banned. Apparently drive ins cause sex which is a no-no if you are Catholic.
As I progress through my 6th decade as a horny Baptist I am ever on the alert for a drive-in….movies never last more than 4 hours so neither will I therefore a Dr visit will not be required.
We rarely watch live TV unless it is news. We PVR all of our HBO, Showcase, etc faves.
We are still ebook fans (soft cover if on beach vacation). I take pictures of the latest best seller covers at the store and then search the Toronto library for them. If they are not available right away I put a hold on them and then browse the 10000’s of other titles. The price of $0 cannot be beat and I have never been challenged to find something of interest, at least in fiction. During the winter months I try to keep to a book-a-week.
On the subject of sex and drive-ins, including our on-boat drive-in, I’m going to plead the fifth.
A big gripe of mine is how much ‘they’ charge for a digital version of a book. You can buy a relatively current but slightly used paperback from E-Bay/Amazon delivered for just a few bucks. However that same book in digital form is around $ 9 ~ 10 and unlike the paperback, you aren’t able to pass the digital version along to friends.
What makes this especially egregious is that the actual “cost” of a digital version is just pennies whereas a ‘real’ book is much more expensive to produce.
None-the-less, I too have succumbed to the hugely beneficial logistics of digital books which I read on my ultralight weight laptop.
I’ve voiced that exact same gripe.
I have never paid for any digital book and can guarantee that I never will unless it is some sort of technical book that is only available for a fee….and most likely that if it was so badly needed and important then I would buy a hard copy.
If it is slightly used on ebay / Amazon then chances are that the larger city libraries have a both hard copy and electronic copy. You may have to “electronically” line up but so what? There are 10000 other books to read in the meantime.
Our library charges $0.00CDN ($0.00USD) for e-pub / PDF books which I think are universal formats for Apple / PC / Android. The only “cost” is my annual trip to one of the physical library branches to show them a bill with my name and address to prove that I still live within the city boundaries and therefore am a legit library user.
But what about our book?
http://amzn.to/S5JzvW
On the “to do” list for the next time we visit 🙂
🙂
We swap electronic books, TV shows, documentaries and movies frequently with other cruisers. These days though, we rarely come across anybody who has anything that I don’t already have. I prefer to swap amongst other Mac users though. The file system on portable hard drives makes swapping problematic. As a Mac user, I can READ (or copy) a PC users external drive, but cannot WRITE on it. If I give my Mac formatted external drive to a PC user, he can’t READ or WRITE to it. This means we’re swapping using USB sticks and if there is a lot to be swapped, it can take hours just to prepare a few USB sticks. My wife and I still read a lot, and all of it is on our Kindle Paper Whites. We have a library of about 10,000 books that we read from and occasionally download a few more to fill in the gaps.
We’ve had the same experience with PC drives too.
I envy your Kindle Paper White. The ability to read in the dark without an external light is nice.