Thoughts on Digital Reading
“How’re you feeling about the PSP comic store/digital comics in general? Me? I think I’m sticking with paper. I’m fuckin old school!”
-John via Twitter
I think publications on PSP are a great idea. I’d totally get into books and such again if they were actually available on devices I’m always carrying on me. Does the iPhone do ebooks? Probably some kind of rigged app or a few standalone apps, but on no universal book reader, right? I can settle for comics. One thing on comics is I like to sit there and examine the art in great detail. The PSP comic viewer let’s me do that. I can zoom out or in as I please and pan the page around to study every which way. There’s even this Autoflow thing where mashing L & R Buttons automatically zeroes in on all the relevant screen placements, making reading these things as lazy as you wish. Button config is even available.
A massive plus is the custom soundtracks function that somewhat works with this comic viewer. Too many times I’m walkin’ somewhere with my PSP music goin’, then when I go to sit down and switch to a game, I have to stop the good sounds for crappy game music from R-Type Command. Say I’m in a podcast I want to listen to but don’t want to sit there and stare at the wall, I can whip out a comic instead without holding up my audio. The music player is limited though. There’s no fast forward function for picking up where you left off in a long track and it doesn’t support PSPgo very well, so the player can only read from the system storage but not from the expandable cards (where I keep all my music). I’m not even sure it supports playlists. Thanks Japan!
Either way, the big draw for me on PSP comics is portability and hiding what I got. I work with baby boomers. They’re not very smart. I got the heavy stink eye when I sat in the public commons and had a lunch while reading Watchmen. I’d much prefer masking what I’m looking at and maintain the privacy. Sure I’m 20-something years old and it’s not a big deal for me to defend what I’m into, but I also value solo downtime above most things, so avoiding possibility of needless conflict with nosy old people idiots with high judging and poor listening skills is a selling point. Since I don’t do a lot of reading when I’m at home, I pretty much have to bring whatever I intend to read with me somewhere else. At home I’d prefer the music, gaming, or time with the pre-wife, so books are right-out. I’m not owning a man-purse ever, so that leaves me with whatever fits in my pocket. PSP works, a tube hanging out a foot above my back pocket doesn’t.
