Page Numbers for Kindle Books an Imperfect Solution
Since the dawn of the Kindle, there’s been one quirky little feature that has baffled or thrilled the multitudes: page numbers.
The Kindle e-book reader has always displayed its own “location numbers” rather than page numbers. Why? Because page numbers make no sense on an e-book. If you make the type larger or smaller, the page numbering would change. A 100-page book becomes 200 pages long when you double the type size.
Or what should happen when you read the first 15 pages of a book on your Kindle, and then continue on your iPod Touch? Obviously, only a fraction as much text appears on the small screen, so the page numbering wouldn’t match.
That’s why Amazon invented “location numbers” that correspond to the bits of text on the screen, consistently on any screen and at at any time size—not paper page numbers. (Otherwise, you’d get citations like: “’I regret that I have but one life to give for my country,’ says Nathan Hale on page 384 when viewed using the Arial font, 14-point size on the 13-inch MacBook Air screen.”)
Seemed logical enough at the time. Unfortunately, this system causes headaches for anyone who has to make specific citations: a student writing a paper, for example, a teacher giving reading assignments, or someone trying to follow along at a book club.
Barnes & Noble’s Nook books use a different system. Its page numbers correspond to the physical pages of the book, solving one problem but introducing others.
Amazon has finally tackled this problem, as you’ll see in the next Kindle software update. (It’s available now as an Early Preview.) Kindle books will give you the option of either system: “location” numbers that remain attached to the same passages no matter what the screen or type size, and page numbers that reflect where you are in the printed book. The real page numbers, of course, may display some weirdness—you might swipe your finger to “turn the page” on your iPhone, but the page number won’t change. Or you may adjust the type size and see the page number change (because the displayed page number corresponds to whatever word is at the top left of the screen).
All of this requires some rejiggering of the existing e-book files; Amazon has already converted “tens of thousands” of books and will soon update its Kindle reading apps for iPhone, Android and so on, to take advantage of the new feature.
Bottom line: enough criticizing the Kindle or the Nook for the way they handle page numbers. Neither solution is perfect—“locations” or page numbers—because the problem is unsolvable. The best we can hope for is a choice — and now the Kindle offers one.
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