Anybody own a Kindle?

[Dolomite`s Breezy]

What is the pricing compared if you get a paperback at Wal-mart? Would love to get one but if the prices on books are about the same .. I stick to paperback or hardcover..

Tulip

[Guest bkelm18]

What is the pricing compared if you get a paperback at Wal-mart? Would love to get one but if the prices on books are about the same .. I stick to paperback or hardcover..

Tulip

Prices are usually set by the publisher. Some are cheaper and some are more expensive. There are a lot of free ones though especially if you're into classics.

[Dolomite`s Breezy]

Prices are usually set by the publisher. Some are cheaper and some are more expensive. There are a lot of free ones though especially if you're into classics.

Oh.. love the classics..

Might not be classified as "classics" but love Piers Anthony books.

[Murgatroy]

My wife and I go back and forth on this.

I firmly believe that within the next ten years everything will be digital.

She believes there is still a huge market for physical books.

My only gripe with the Kindle is the cost of the books.

The physical book was printed, distributed and sold to me. Requiring raw materials, labor, fuel, transport and lading costs. A minimum of ten people touched this book before me getting it to where it is.

The digital was converted to digital format, then placed on a server. That means that maybe four people had input.

This is not counting the author, whom I am sure gets the same cut, digital or physical.

Now, explain to me why the digital book costs the same, or in many cases, more than the mass produced paperback?

This came to me as I was searching for some old out of print pulp novels, and Amazon wanted $10 a book, for a 200 page pulp novel in digital form, and even there in the sidebar was a link to used copies for $0.75.

It frustrated me.

A lot.

Damn evil publishing companies, and folks want to bitch about banks.

[Murgatroy]

Oh.. love the classics..

Might not be classified as "classics" but love Piers Anthony books.

I am a huge fan of his Xanth novels, read all the originals in my youth, but I couldn't keep up after The Color of Her Panties, or Demons Don't Dream, somewhere in that era.

I couldn't really get into his Incarnations of Immortality, though I have read them all, I don't recall much at all.

Tatham Mound was probably my favorite of his works, or Kill-o-Byte. One extreme to the other, I like how versatile he is as an author.

I have Split Infinity in my car right now, but I haven't gotten started on it yet.

[R1100R]

I have one and love due to traveling alot with the military. I can downoad PDF's and Military reference material to it. I also can have

my Bible and Book of Comman Prayer to include over 3000 books. Mine also has a experemental browser on it that has help me out a time or two. I even got on TGO. It's a pain in the ass to work the browser but they are working on it.

I still read alot of printed material when at home. I hate the downloads are as much as the physical book. But there are alot of free classics and sharing is now comming around.

[Guest WyattEarp]

My wife and I go back and forth on this.

She believes there is still a huge market for physical books.

she's right in at least one venue! colleges will keep selling physical books just so they can rip students off! my books were $500 for 4 classes this semester, but I can't gripe cause I didn't have to pay for them!

[jcj]

she's right in at least one venue! colleges will keep selling physical books just so they can rip students off! my books were $500 for 4 classes this semester, but I can't gripe cause I didn't have to pay for them!

Yup, although a few textbook publishers are starting to open up to the Kindle/e-book format.

My college recently wanted $180 for one book. Bought it at half.com for $40 instead.

[Guest bkelm18]

she's right in at least one venue! colleges will keep selling physical books just so they can rip students off! my books were $500 for 4 classes this semester, but I can't gripe cause I didn't have to pay for them!

Yup, although a few textbook publishers are starting to open up to the Kindle/e-book format.

My college recently wanted $180 for one book. Bought it at half.com for $40 instead.

My books for this semester were just shy of $900. $500 of that was for one class. I use Amazon a lot. You can usually find them used for dirt cheap.

[Jonnin]

Oh.. love the classics..Might not be classified as "classics" but love Piers Anthony books.

Look for yourself. Get on amazon and shop the kindle store to see what is free, what is available, what games and such. Anthony is still alive I think, and still likes to get paid for his work, last I heard.

[1gewehr]

On the subject of e-book prices, there is a LOT of fluctuation in prices going on. Most of the traditional publishers want to keep the same cost model as they have with print. Newer publishers are paying authors a much higher percentage, and selling at half-price or lower than a paperback. Look at Baen Books as a model of what things will probably look like in the future. At Baen, e-books are significantly cheaper than paperbacks. With all the self-publishing going on, I will bet that it will drive most publishers to start going to the Baen model in order to remain competitive.

BTW, we have had a Kindle since Last Christmas, and we gave one to my parents as well. My Mother's eyes are getting worse. And the Kindle has a vastly better display than the Nook. Plus the Kindle lets you adjust the font size, which let my Mom make things larger for easier viewing. I understand that the new Nook also does this. But Kindle has stolen another lead with the new Fire. My wife will be getting one for Christmas, so I'll be able to use the older one.

Edited November 15, 2011 by 1gewehr

[Bubba0031]

Everyone has pretty much covered it. I bought my wife one for her birthday last summer. She loves it. I liked that I actually got something that she uses and enjoys as opposed to just "a gift" that goes in the drawer and never sees daylight again. It also entertains her to the point that she stays out of my hair. Win Win.