I’ll come right out and admit it: I’m in love with the Amazon Kindle (and I don’t even have one!).

I do have the Kindle for Mac and have been downloading free and inexpensive books for the past few weeks and am loving it. At first, I was the staunch, rigid fan of real books only. And truly, there really is nothing like the feel of a new book, or old book, in your hands on a rainy day.

But after growing used to editing and critiquing manuscripts on the computer, I’ve become so accustomed to it, that reading on a screen doesn’t bother me. However, the actual Kindle’s screen resolution is such that it is like reading a regular book page, so I’m hoping one day to fully experience that.

The Kindle for PC or Mac also sync up with your handheld Kindle and it even recalls what page you were on in each book. The Amazon Kindle Store is easy to navigate and they offer a variety of free books from all genres.

I don’t believe this new influx of Kindles, iBook, Nook, etc, will replace the paper and ink of traditional books. This is just a new direction for the publishing industry, the same that the internet was to newspapers and online music was to CDs. I get some of my news from print, some from the web. I get some of my music from iTunes, others from CDs. For each venue, there are drawbacks. The Kindle online store will never replace the atmosphere of a used bookstore. But the portability of dozens of books in my hand is hard to resist, especially when I blaze through a book in a few hours.

For me, I’ve enjoyed my time with the Kindle for Mac and am tucking away some extra cash to save up for the actual Kindle. It’s a time of change for writers and readers alike, and I say we go forward!