Unpopular Opinions Society

I love my kindle but it's never going to replace my paper books. I used to be very anti-ebooks and I still agree with a lot of what people here are saying but I do love my kindle.
I got given it as a birthday present so I felt obligated to use it. It has helped a lot with my space issue because I do not have any more room for paper books. But I haven't chucked any of them out (which some of my family wish I will because I have too many books and a lot I now have kindles copies of as well) and when I'm in a position to have a lot of books, I will probably re-buy all my kindle books as paper books.
I do like the portability of it as well. It's nice being able to whip out my kindle when I have a spare 5 minutes and have over 300 books to choose to read rather than having to think about which book to carry around with me and the size and weight of it.
I also like all the free books and the 20p deals. It means I've read a lot of books I never would have read if I was buying paper books. If it's a rubbish book then it's only 20p wasted and if I've read it within 7 days of buying it I can delete it and get a refund. I got the first Game of Thrones book on a 20p deal. I haven't read it yet but it's better than spending £4 on a paperback or getting it from the library and being under pressure to read it within 3 weeks. (I don't have the time to read anymore. :( )

The downside is the price of kindle books. Take my Discworld books as an example. My rule used to be I would only buy one if I found it in a charity/second-hand bookshop because otherwise I would be spending too much money on them. (Plus, I really don't have to space on my bookcases anymore!) So it used to be £2 or less a book. On kindle they're a fiver but I can have them instantly and don't have to search the bookshops looking for the ones I need. On the plus side, the complete works of Jane Austen, including Sanditon, Lady Susan, the Histoy of England, everything ever published, for 77p! And I've never found copies of her other works in a bookshop ever. (There's deals like that for a lot of authors. )
Also, my favourite author has written quite a few short stories that tie-in with some of her series. The only copies I can find of those stories are kindle ones and I would have never found them if I wasn't look for kindle books by her. (I wanted to get kindle copies of my favourite series because she's signed all my paper books and I don't like taking them out of my bedroom. )

I doubt I'll ever replace my kindle because it's perfectly functional right now and while the newer ones might be better in some way, I'm fine with mine. But if I hadn't been given it I would have never brought one myself.

Now I've just got to stop myself spending £25 buying Lord of the Rings, the Hobbit and the Silmarillion so I can carry them around with me everywhere.
 
Yeah, the future of physical books (like with vinyl) is going to be pretty much exclusively collectible. It's already almost there. I worked in the book business for a significant amount of time and saw the changes. I could give you all a lesson on the changes in the past 20 years and how the internet has essentially killed the used book trade but I'm lazy. I love physical books, but am not opposed to e-books either.

Interestingly, tapes aren't completely dead. My boyfriend is a hardcore audiophile and he still buys super obscure foreign (mostly electronic) music on cassette. Obviously he collects vinyl, but some new stuff is still only available on cassette.
 
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The problem I have with ebooks is that the prices will never decrease because there is no inventory holding cost with ebooks (except for server maintenance I suppose). there is no motivation to clear out inventory if there is no inventory.

Just the other day, I found a used book on Amazon that with shipping included, would cost me half the proce of an ebook.

Also, publishers have gotten into the habit with ebooks to sell you half a book at full price. Or alternatively numerous pieces of a story for a price, that when combined would be more than the cost of a full paper book.

In a Star Trek book I read a few months ago, they actually had the audacity to abruptly end the bookn the middle of the action, and "say.. to be continued on the last page. What ****** me off was that I paid full price for it.

If they keep up those tactics, I'm going back to paper books.
 
From what I've read, the majority of the cost of a (new) book goes to publishing fees, author fees, and what have you. The actual cost of the paper and printing is very low.
The full retail price of a book would also cover overhead for physical bookstores, but who pays full retail for a book any more?
Amazon is putting the big box bookstores out of business, as they become showrooms for people to browse a book and then order it online for 30% cheaper.

But yeah, since only very little of the full cost of a new book is for the actual physical thing, ebooks are not *that* much cheaper. They were at the beginning, to get people buying them, but they're not anymore. (Outside of special deals, free classics, etc.)
 
Woah! Too many posts to really effectively multiquote. If I miss a point, just yell at me and I'll get to it.

"Superiority of human labor," by that I meant this attitude that certain people have in that technology replacing mundane chores is somehow wrong or defying the "human spirit" (whatever the hell that is). It just annoys me when people say that things like dishwashers or autonomous vacuum cleaners are taking the good ol' fashioned labor out of everything. As if that's a bad thing. There are more ways to get exercise/stay healthy than just to work around the house. And I hope that our ability to decrease mundane chores will only expand from here on out, in all industries.

eWaste is a good point, and something that can't be avoided. However, think of the long-term benefits. If massive libraries can be fit into one palm-sized device, and are on a regular basis, with enough people participating, then even when they must be replaced, the resource cost would surely be cut.

Monetary cost is another thing altogether, and one that I think will become far less of a problem from now into the future. Think of how prices on things like iPhones have decreased in even the past five years or so. One can purchase a functional smart phone for less than $200, and that's not even considering potential price cuts due to things like insurance or job coverage, if the device is used for work. I can't imagine they should get any more expensive, and will likely just get cheaper from here on out.

I don't know what to say about higher eBook prices. Generally, that hasn't been my experience. I've usually seen eBooks be very cheap (or downright free) due to the fact that all the resources don't have to go into them. They're just formatted text. Perhaps the benefit of cheap secondhand books is another thing, but as we've pretty well established by now, paper books will probably always exist, whether as an industry or a novelty or as collector's items, so those who want that option can always have it.

I firmly believe that personalized tablets and smart phones hold the key to the future. Hopefully at some point here we can update education to be on par with all the technological possibilities (we have quite a bit of catching up to do, the model's barely changed in the past 200 years). Imagine a world with no standardized testing, and with specifically catered educational experiences delivered right to the home, a public place, or a school building - based on choice, not state-enforced cookie-cutter standards - and personalized for a student's own pace, personality, and interests. That's not too far off - technologically speaking, it is already possible. It simply needs to be implemented in some official sort of way, and I feel like that's where we're headed.

And can I state again, I am not a book-hater, nor do I scorn the past. There's an entire good-sized room in my house that is a library, and I am quite defensive of it. I love books! I've loved reading since I was very young. That doesn't mean I can't wish for a future with less waste and more forward thinking.
 
FortyTwo said:
I don't think anyone's claiming that it does. It's just used as a symbol for the MRA thing.
Click to expand...

Is MRA the Nice Guy thing?

I like fedoras. :(

FortyTwo said:
Woah! Too many posts to really effectively multiquote. If I miss a point, just yell at me and I'll get to it.

"Superiority of human labor," by that I meant this attitude that certain people have in that technology replacing mundane chores is somehow wrong or defying the "human spirit" (whatever the hell that is). It just annoys me when people say that things like dishwashers or autonomous vacuum cleaners are taking the good ol' fashioned labor out of everything. As if that's a bad thing. There are more ways to get exercise/stay healthy than just to work around the house. And I hope that our ability to decrease mundane chores will only expand from here on out, in all industries.
Click to expand...

Yeah, okay. :) Some things I think could be a little more human-centric than they are now, but personal household jobs aren't really one of those things.
 
kazyeeqen said:
Is MRA the Nice Guy thing?

I like fedoras. :(
Click to expand...

"Men's Rights Activists." Basically men who don't understand male privilege.

Yeah, okay. :) Some things I think could be a little more human-centric than they are now, but personal household jobs aren't really one of those things.
Click to expand...
Yep. Any kind of mundane work can go out the window, I think.
 
RabbitLuvr said:
From what I've read, the majority of the cost of a (new) book goes to publishing fees, author fees, and what have you. The actual cost of the paper and printing is very low.
The full retail price of a book would also cover overhead for physical bookstores, but who pays full retail for a book any more?
Amazon is putting the big box bookstores out of business, as they become showrooms for people to browse a book and then order it online for 30% cheaper.

But yeah, since only very little of the full cost of a new book is for the actual physical thing, ebooks are not *that* much cheaper. They were at the beginning, to get people buying them, but they're not anymore. (Outside of special deals, free classics, etc.)
Click to expand...

The motivation to get rid of a physical book that's collecting dust and replace it with a book that will sell is a great motivator for discounting that can't be underestimated. inventory holding cost is huge, both in terms of rent and utilities, salaries, etc as well as the opportunity cost.
 
FortyTwo said:
I don't know what to say about higher eBook prices. Generally, that hasn't been my experience. I've usually seen eBooks be very cheap (or downright free) due to the fact that all the resources don't have to go into them. They're just formatted text.
Click to expand...

Setting aside books that are now "free" because they are now in the public domain... Books aren't JUST formatted text. Let's look at a novel... Someone spent time developing and refining that story, and they had to eat and clothe their kids and pay the rent during that time. They, or their publisher, (hopefully) paid an editor. If there are illustrations, they had to pay an artist.

There's also advertising that goes into a lot of books, and while everyone hates ads, they serve a purpose and advertising the book is someone's job- they've got to eat, etc, too.

It's true that digital self-publishing is getting very popular, but I don't know that of purchase a book that I didn't know had gone through a reliable editing process.
 
FortyTwo said:
Monetary cost is another thing altogether, and one that I think will become far less of a problem from now into the future. Think of how prices on things like iPhones have decreased in even the past five years or so. One can purchase a functional smart phone for less than $200, and that's not even considering potential price cuts due to things like insurance or job coverage, if the device is used for work
Click to expand...

Many smart phones are that inexpensive (in the US) due to carrier subsidies. Many, many people do not qualify for discounts through their employer. Those who do are very fortunate.
 
beancounter said:
The motivation to get rid of a physical book that's collecting dust and replace it with a book that will sell is a great motivator for discounting that can't be underestimated. inventory holding cost is huge, both in terms of rent and utilities, salaries, etc as well as the opportunity cost.
Click to expand...

Publishers probably don't see an incentive to cut the price of an ebook as long as people are willing to paying price for it. Cutting the price cuts revenue for the publisher, the author, and everyone else involved.

People are buying ebooks for the convenience of them, and an eReader is still somewhat of a luxury item. If they're looking to save money, they might buy a physical copy used or borrow it from a friend or library for free.
 

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