Thinking about a kindle but the books are $$$

My daughter has a Kindle and she loves it. So much so that I've been kind of wanting one of my own. I recently discovered that I could cash in some S&H Greenpoints and get enough in Amazon Gift cards to cover the cost of the unit.

My only hesitation is the cost of the books. I buy most of my books at the used bookstore. ($3 - 4 per paperback) And I occasionally pick up something from the newsstand ($7-10) if I find myself with some time on my hands and nothing to read.

I guess I was assuming that since they don't have to print the books, warehouse the books, package and ship the books, build stores, heat, cool, and light the stores, stock store shelves with books, or pay a cashier to sell and bag the books, then the E-books should, in theory, be cheaper. After all they've eliminated almost all of the overhead and middlemen right???

But, that's not the case at all. From what I can gather the prices of E-books are about the same as full bookstore retail.

I guess you're paying for convince.

Most are slightly cheaper. But some are MORE expensive than the book, especially when the cheap paperback is available and the damned kindle version is still $9.99.

There are a LOT of free books too. Mostly classics, but if you're into that then you won't want for something free to read.

I do like my kindle.

In my experience (I've only had my Kindle since last Christmas) the Kindle versions of books are the same price or slightly less than the paperback version. But that's the cost of a *new* paperback. If you normally buy books second hand, then you're not really making an "apples to apples" comparison.

Brian

I just bought a Kindle a month ago. I found lots of books you can read for free. Not anything new though.

Nook Color for me, love it so far.

I got a Kobo wireless from Borders for less than $100 - can use eBook format or pdf. The software is slightly buggy and I'm not real happy about the way it handles pdf's, but despite these flaws I'm finding that I like using an e-Reader. It came with 100 old classics preloaded, and I've downloaded 3 novels from lulu.com in pdf format for $5 each. (Thomas Sherry's "Deep Winter", "Shatter" and "Remnant" - end of the world as we know it type stuff). Lots of other cheap stuff out there in non-Kindle format. If I had it to do over I might spend more money and get a Nook or Sony, but I wanted something cheap to see how I'd like an eReader and wanted to stay away from a proprietary format like Kindle.

Your public library may have ebooks to lend. Mine doesn't support kindle/mobi but I have found conversion programs easily.

I should also add if you are into the dark arts thousands of books are available for download.

jspence1 said:

Your public library may have ebooks to lend. Mine doesn't support kindle/mobi but I have found conversion programs easily.

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My library has tons of books to lend via ebooks, and you can borrow 4 at a time! It is NOT compatible with Kindle, though. It works with other ereaders, like Sony and Nook. They also lend out a Nook, so you can try it. The one I borrowed is buggy, but I'm going to get a new one before I leave for Texas next year.

I bought SWMBO a Nook Color for Christmas and she loves it. She has issues with Rheumatoid Arthritis and has a hard time holding large books and turning pages. The Nook is great for her since it is about a third of the weight of your average Harry Potter book... I can't speak to Kindle books but for the most part, Nook books are on average a bit less than their paper counterparts. One thing that she really likes is the built in dictionary feature where you can highlight any word in the text and look it up.

I got my wife a kindle for xmas 2010, and it is great.
She's never purchased a book, but had plenty to read (some new stuff, too). You just have to know where to look! But, you probably won't be able to get your favorite author's new book for free. You can't be that particular.
I use it on trips to the cities for the free 3G wi-fi. We live in the boonies, so when we return to civilization, we need portable internet for events, maps, shops, restaurants, etc.
Worth the cost IMO.

I do agree than 9.99 for a digital copy is too high, *unless* you have the future rights to other formats. It would be awesome if they would start bundling digital copies with the physical book, like they do with DVDs now. Some textbooks are doing this, but your average paperback isn't as far as I know.

Have you tried ebooks from Project Gutenberg?
http://www.gutenberg.org/wiki/Main_Page

Yooper said:

My library has tons of books to lend via ebooks, and you can borrow 4 at a time! It is NOT compatible with Kindle, though. It works with other ereaders, like Sony and Nook. They also lend out a Nook, so you can try it. The one I borrowed is buggy, but I'm going to get a new one before I leave for Texas next year.

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Calibre E-book management will convert them fast as fast can be

I share an account with two of my brothers and I have access to their books with my Kindle, you could sign on with your daughter and share books if you have similar interests.

get an ipod touch...books are free using wattpad app! i know the screen is small, but my wife uses it every day and never complains about the screen size.

DeafSmith said:

I got a Kobo wireless from Borders for less than $100 - can use eBook format or pdf. The software is slightly buggy and I'm not real happy about the way it handles pdf's, but despite these flaws I'm finding that I like using an e-Reader. It came with 100 old classics preloaded, and I've downloaded 3 novels from lulu.com in pdf format for $5 each. (Thomas Sherry's "Deep Winter", "Shatter" and "Remnant" - end of the world as we know it type stuff). Lots of other cheap stuff out there in non-Kindle format. If I had it to do over I might spend more money and get a Nook or Sony, but I wanted something cheap to see how I'd like an eReader and wanted to stay away from a proprietary format like Kindle.

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PDF sucks on any e-reader as it's generally not re-flowable. The big advantage the Kobo, Sony, and Nook have over Kindle is they all natively support the ePub format that libraries use. Then you've got a great reading experience for free.

There are some used book stores around here that have books for $1. At that price it is really hard for me to justify ever paying $10 for an electronic copy.


For e-readers I use Stanza on my iPhone. It is BY FAR the best of the ereader apps in my opinion.

Kindles ROCK!

The ipod works great as an e reader until your wrists are sore from turning 100000 pages.

I've used the nook kobo and kindle and the kindle is the best of them. I have to spend 5 minutes to convert the files to work on it but I think its worth the time.

I use my Droid PHONE to read ebooks. I like that it's always with me, and I can download just about any book that has ever been scanned. It's a bit small, but I can hold it in one hand easily. Not that I often need one hand free while I'm reading a book... Hmm....

I do like the kindle for what it is, but I'd want it backlit and I'd want to be sure that even if I couldn't get a book for free, like I do now, that they'd at least be 1/2 the price of a new book.

I mean, really, the publisher is not paying for a TON of the expenses that they would normally pay to produce a paper book. They really need to pass those saving down to the people.

Wife and I are considering buying a kindle for out oldest, but we ended up buying a mini laptop, which is uses CONSTANTLY for watching Dr. Who and reading Dr Who fan fiction online.

Homercidal said:

I use my Droid PHONE to read ebooks. I like that it's always with me, and I can download just about any book that has ever been scanned. It's a bit small, but I can hold it in one hand easily. Not that I often need one hand free while I'm reading a book... Hmm....

I do like the kindle for what it is, but I'd want it backlit and I'd want to be sure that even if I couldn't get a book for free, like I do now, that they'd at least be 1/2 the price of a new book.

I mean, really, the publisher is not paying for a TON of the expenses that they would normally pay to produce a paper book. They really need to pass those saving down to the people.

Wife and I are considering buying a kindle for out oldest, but we ended up buying a mini laptop, which is uses CONSTANTLY for watching Dr. Who and reading Dr Who fan fiction online.

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I agree but man would that cripple the industry. I have to think it was discussed on the board level. Lots of stuff for free on the kindle but for now, they seem to be trying to keep the publishers in business.

I am pretty sure the publishers set the prices on the ebooks, not amazon.

I am confused about DRM though. I think it's like music; Once the digital format is created, it's impossible to prevent the digital copy from being made available, freely, to everyone in the world. Why do they bother trying to create a rights management system?

On my phone, I have been satisfied with the Project Gutenberg stuff for now, but I already know that if I wanted to download almost anything, it's out there.

I want to get an e-reader for my daughter's graduation..still not sure Kindle, Nook or Sony..

What happens if I load 10 books on my ereader, then want to give one to my wife (assuming she had the same ereader .,.. can this be done, assuming I paid for the ebook ?)

kappclark said:

I want to get an e-reader for my daughter's graduation..still not sure Kindle, Nook or Sony..

What happens if I load 10 books on my ereader, then want to give one to my wife (assuming she had the same ereader .,.. can this be done, assuming I paid for the ebook ?)

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I know with Kindle you can "loan" books. I am not sure about the others.

Lending Kindle Books

The other thing you can do is just share the account...I think you can have 2-3 devices all sync to the same library.


Is an iPad out of the question for a graduation gift? It's not practical for me personally, but I have several friends that really like theirs and use it more than they would a regular e-reader. It's quite a bit more pricey, though.

I just use old fashioned no battery required books, that I can get free on loan from the library. When you are reading by candlelight after the apocolypse, I won't have to worry about boredom.
I'm old fashioned though. And cheap.

lol @ ereaders

the wife and i have both have nooks.. Love them and the advantage over kindle is the epub format which allows you to borrow books from most libraries. Whatever you go with, make sure you download ecalibre as a book manager on your computer. It is free and is awesome, it will convert all formats and makes syncs easy.

bucfanmike said:

the wife and i have both have nooks.. Love them and the advantage over kindle is the epub format which allows you to borrow books from most libraries. Whatever you go with, make sure you download ecalibre as a book manager on your computer. It is free and is awesome, it will convert all formats and makes syncs easy.

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Thanks - does the nook support Audible books ?

I jsut got a kindle as an opening night present. It's something I never would have bought for myself.

I totally dig it. I spend a lot of time on the train and I also have reading time at work. Being able to finish a book, and just download another has totally sold the kindle to me. No more hauling around two books. Just a kindle (which is about the same weight as a paperback.)

B

Nothing like the smell of an old book...one of my favorite things

Unfortunately my sony e-reader smells of cat pee since the dog "liberated" it and dropped it in the Kitty Litter Tray...