A recent article from Wired magazine discusses Why E-Books Look So Ugly. It’s a nice read and makes some good points about how typography, illustrations, and cover art are being lost in the shuffle and reduced to black and gray pixels.

The article touched on the Kindle and pointed out some interesting figures:

With the popularity of the Kindle and other e-book readers, electronic book sales in the United States have doubled every quarter. Though still a very small percentage of the overall book industry, sales of e-books touched $15.5 million in the first quarter of the year, up from $3.2 million the same quarter a year ago.

One of the more prominent points being echoed through the article dealt with the font and typeface:

“Different typefaces are like like having different actors in play or different voices in an audio book,” Simonson says. “The variations in typeface influence the personality of the book. Sticking to one font is much like having the same actor play all the different parts.”

I can understand the argument to an extent, but still, to me, convenience outweighs the variety of fonts and the other elements that make up the “whole package”. But that’s just the direction the world is moving. We’re willing to sacrifice a few of the perks in order to get the true content faster, easier, and cheaper.

Two years ago, I wouldn’t have thought I’d ever prefer downloading music versus buying a physical CD. However, I can’t tell you the last time I made the trek to the store to buy a CD instead of just hopping onto iTunes and having it downloaded in less than 5 minutes. And judging by the number of CD stores going out of business, I’m not the only one.

Likewise, gone are the days of me hunting around online for a Borders coupon to print out and heading to the store to fetch a new hardback release when I can have it downloaded from the comfort of my own home, and at a cheaper price than I could get with the coupon. If the typeface happens to be a little different, that’s fine with me. Once I’m immersed in the story, those “whole package” frills seem to take a backseat anyways.

What about you? Does having just one typeface limit the amount of enjoyment you get out of your Kindle?