Kindle and ownership vs access

On Tuesday I posted Reasons to think Kindle. It was basically a quick look at Kindle from a practical viewpoint because of problems I’m having with my left hand.

But yesterday I came across a commentary titled Kindle e-reader: A Trojan horse for free thought, a look at what Kindle and similar e-readers might mean (and by extension just about everything available digitally). I recommend reading the commentary regardless of whether you agree or disagree with what is argued.

One of the main reasons I found this piece interesting was the sentence, “In our rush to adopt new technologies, we have too readily surrendered ownership in favor of its twisted sister, access.” I hadn’t really considered the difference between owning and access.

Is what we “buy” actually a purchase of something, or is it really a variation on rental because, what we really have, is access? And if it is access, does it matter?

About Bill Wren

Writer, editor, social media practitioner and observer of how and where people connect and engage online.
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