E vs. Paper--how do you buy as a reader?

Well, buddy, the only thing I can recommend is shoplifting!

Yes I was joking. Or was I?

Kitty Pryde said:

an ereader can't really go in the bath

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Double layered ziplock bags for the win, here. Er - the good kind, not the store brand.

Breaking the darn things is a downside though, I confess. Considered taking out one of those replacement insurance deals, but took a chance and didn't. So far, so good (knocks on wood). If you break things a lot, I'd suggest buying a policy that protects against accidental destruction, though.

I don't mind if people call me a skinflint - I don't need to have the latest goodie or gadget. I have a Kindle, but it was ridiculously pricy to order from the Netherlands, so I asked an American buddy to bring me one as he's over here several times a month.

I rarely go to the cinema anymore, unless it's something that HAS to be seen on the big screen. I prefer DVD. And I won't buy DVDs that cost over 10 euro. If that means I had to wait three years before I could watch Zodiak, so be it. I think one of the last movies I saw in the cinema was The Usual Suspects [and that was a disappointment because I figured out the plot after twenty minutes, then had to sit through the rest of the movie for confirmation].

I don't even buy that many new clothes. I prefer thrift stores over H&M. And I work in uniform, so I don't need to dress up for work. My BMW motorcycle is 13 years old and has 125,000 kilometers on the clock. My Guzzi sidecar outfit is seventeen years old. One of the things I buy new and don't mind spending money on is motorcycle gear, because it protects my skin, and motorcycle maintenance.
And I spend money on good food and good coffee, because life is too short to drink and eat garbage.

scarletpeaches said:

Not that I'm saying people with computers should sell them and buy books. I'm just saying it's hard to sympathise with people living in a country where the price of cinema tickets and books seems to be half that of the same items in the UK.

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From the limited research I did, the median income for a full time employee in the UK is £25,428. Thats about $41K.

The median income in the US for a fulltime employee is somewhere in the $34K range.

So, some of it is that you people make more money than we do.

scarletpeaches said:

Not that I'm saying people with computers should sell them and buy books. I'm just saying it's hard to sympathise with people living in a country where the price of cinema tickets and books seems to be half that of the same items in the UK.

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Sympathy isn't necessary. Logic would be welcome, though. I own my computer, and I pay for my internet connection. If I didn't budget my book buying very strictly, I wouldn't have a computer or an internet connection. It's somewhat similar, though more privileged, to the dilemma that people far poorer than I am have to face: whether to buy medicine or food. If you're free to buy what you want without considering what you might have to give up in exchange, then you're not likely to understand the problem. And it's exactly the same problem in the U.S and the U.K., and everywhere else.

Synovia said:

From the limited research I did, the median income for a full time employee in the UK is £25,428. Thats about $41K.

The median income in the US for a fulltime employee is somewhere in the $34K range.

So, some of it is that you people make more money than we do.

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Ha! I only wish I did.

Catana said:

...you're not likely to understand the problem. And it's exactly the same problem in the U.S and the U.K., and everywhere else.

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Between an American and a Brit earning the same amount of money, the American will be able to get more for their $$$ in the US than the Brit would for their £££ over here.

So yeah, it still makes me laugh (or grimace) when I hear from people across the pond complaining that books are so expensive. They're still roughly half the price of books in Britain. (Or the UK, however you want to put it).

scarletpeaches said:

Not that I'm saying people with computers should sell them and buy books. I'm just saying it's hard to sympathise with people living in a country where the price of cinema tickets and books seems to be half that of the same items in the UK.

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Yes, we're all rich here and enjoying our underpriced luxuries.

Kitty Pryde said:

If I had a bit more disposable income I'd consider ebooks, but ebook readers seem so delicate! I'd be terrified to break one--an ereader can't really go in the bath, get smushed into a backpack on a camping trip, get rolled around in the grit in the bottom of a tent, stored in a drybag on a raft, be left in a cubby at a ski resort, or flung across the room in disdain, or dropped on the ground because I have the coordination of a tipsy preschooler. Yes, I do all of these things to my books. It's a hard-knock life, for them. I really want someone to make a child's ruggedized ereader. One company made one, but it only displays the special interactive illustrated kiddy books you buy especially for it. Why is there not a brightly-colored rubberized ereader for slobby third-graders/me?

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You don't use cell phones? Ipods? Laptops? Okay, I wouldn't recommend taking a laptop on a camping trip, but an ereader with a cover is not all that delicate. My Sony could probably survive being dropped a few times (not that I am going to test it).

Synovia said:

From the limited research I did, the median income for a full time employee in the UK is £25,428. Thats about $41K.

The median income in the US for a fulltime employee is somewhere in the $34K range.

So, some of it is that you people make more money than we do.

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Except when you buy something from a store in the UK you usually find that if it costs $10 in America then it costs 10 pounds in the UK. And then they put 20% sales tax on top.

They don't call it 'Ripoff Britain' for nothing.

Kitty Pryde said:

an ereader can't really go in the bath

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A friend used to use his 'ruggedised' computer in the shower; it was low powered so it didn't need fans for cooling, but otherwise the manufacturer didn't seem to have done much to it other than sealing the case well and using connectors that water couldn't leak through. I wonder how much cost that would add to an ebook reader?

Amadan said:

You don't use cell phones? Ipods? Laptops? Okay, I wouldn't recommend taking a laptop on a camping trip, but an ereader with a cover is not all that delicate. My Sony could probably survive being dropped a few times (not that I am going to test it).

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I've already dropped my phone and broken three protective covers for it in the past year. My partner has, in the past two months: driven off with a smartphone on top of the car, dropped a messaging phone and broken the case, dropped a Droid phone and had her client drive over it in a 100+ pound wheelchair, and dropped the Droid phone again and broken the case. And a mobile phone is smaller and cheaper and less breakable than an ereader!

My iPod is in a rugged rubber casing, and light enough to withstand many bouncy drops. Also I always have it strapped it to my arm so it's nigh impossible to drop! And a laptop I also would not take to any of those places!

The bath I can just about understand if you use a shelf to rest the ereader on, or if you just want to soak, but...in the shower? Holding an ereader? Unless it had suckers on the back to stick to the tiles.

What could you possibly do in the shower one-handed?

Don't answer that.

movieman said:

A friend used to use his 'ruggedised' computer in the shower; it was low powered so it didn't need fans for cooling, but otherwise the manufacturer didn't seem to have done much to it other than sealing the case well and using connectors that water couldn't leak through. I wonder how much cost that would add to an ebook reader?

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HA! I'm in awe of his multitasking skizills! They sell rubber bouncy kiddo cameras and kiddo DVD player+screens for under $100 so I'm certain that it would be cheaply doable.

At this point, I don't think I'd pay more than about $7 for an ebook. The ebooks I've purchased have been from ebook publishers or self-published, though. If I want to read something from a big commercial publisher, I get it from the library. If I love it (it's a keeper), I buy it in print.

Kitty Pryde said:

HA! I'm in awe of his multitasking skizills! They sell rubber bouncy kiddo cameras and kiddo DVD player+screens for under $100 so I'm certain that it would be cheaply doable.

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You can get pretty much any digital device "ruggeddized." It's done all the time for equipment used in field conditions.

It's not cheap though.

I get almost all of the books I want to read immediately from the library. I buy a lot of books, but they're usually books that I want to read later. Usually nice hardcover history or craft or gardening books that I want to keep around.

I use my e-reader at the gym, and have been reading mostly public domain (read: free) books. The only e-books I've bought have been for my book club: too current and popular to be able to get easily at the library. They've been more than I want to spend, but as a SAHM with small children, I consider it a small price to pay to get out of the house and have semi-intellectual conversations with other adults.

Kitty Pryde said:

My iPod is in a rugged rubber casing, and light enough to withstand many bouncy drops. Also I always have it strapped it to my arm so it's nigh impossible to drop! And a laptop I also would not take to any of those places!

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Worth noting here that the iPod makes an outstanding ereader once you load Kindle, Nook, or iBook software on it. If you like your iPod, maybe try that out instead of worrying about buying an ereader? Ditto for most of those cell phones you mentioned (just in case the ipod is a nano or something...).

I have a Kindle and a cheap pda. I'm also on a book budget. I buy mostly Kindle but strip DRM on the books I want to carry on my pda for reading at work etc. I keep the Kindle at home. Also, the pda is my ziplocked reading friend in the tub!

I LOVE our library, it has a pb swap shelving unit where I can often get recent releases. They don't track titles just quantity--so I trade five, get five.

My Kindle acct. is on a gift card given to me by my sister--she now and then refills it on a whim. Thanks, sis!

I am thrilled that I can read a ton of books and not clutter up my house.

Kitty Pryde said:

I've already dropped my phone and broken three protective covers for it in the past year. My partner has, in the past two months: driven off with a smartphone on top of the car, dropped a messaging phone and broken the case, dropped a Droid phone and had her client drive over it in a 100+ pound wheelchair, and dropped the Droid phone again and broken the case. And a mobile phone is smaller and cheaper and less breakable than an ereader!

My iPod is in a rugged rubber casing, and light enough to withstand many bouncy drops. Also I always have it strapped it to my arm so it's nigh impossible to drop! And a laptop I also would not take to any of those places!

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http://www.otterbox.com/

scarletpeaches said:

The bath I can just about understand if you use a shelf to rest the ereader on, or if you just want to soak, but...in the shower? Holding an ereader? Unless it had suckers on the back to stick to the tiles.

What could you possibly do in the shower one-handed?

Don't answer that.

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http://www.ipadaccessories.com/general/waterproof-ipad-cases

Typically the books I want and buy, are books I'll keep and reference so I only buy physical copies; new, used or otherwise. It also fits in with the fact that I don't have an ereader, video ipod, pda, smart phone, or disposable income for such toys, and I don't see that changing anytime soon.

Although I write for the internet, I still buy just about all paper. In fact, lately I have acquired a habit of buying used hardback copies through various Amazon vendors. I am currently reading The Woman Who Fell From The Sky and am enjoying the story very much.

I price my ebooks at $.99, $1.99, or $2.99 For a print edition the max i would price my books is $8.99. I'm doing most of the work, so I want to reap most of the benefits. I think it's fair to readers and fans also. I think that's about what the market will bear in a digital world.

Interesting,

I get paid every two weeks, (Every other Tuesday, don't ask why. sigh)

I buy E books from Baen, paper for every one else. Normally we pick up three to eight titles a pay period. Note, I keep the receipts and write them off at the end of the year as "Research".

I don't have an e-reader yet, the technology is still too primitive, kind of like mobile phones in the 70s, that is needing a retransmission station in the trunk of your car.

Baen has had their full list up as eBooks for at least ten years, prices have been $6.00 for most of that time. Of course if you want to get you fix early you can pay a premium for the EARCs and read a book as much as five months before publication.

BTW free books, http://baen.com/library/ no DRM, at least six different formats.

Regards,
Kevin

Paper.

Hardcover, if it's one of the big coffee table books with lots of pics, or if paper is significantly cheaper than the e-copy (I've bought several out-of-favor books at less than a buck). I also buy paper if it isn't available in an electronic version...which, sadly, still happens a lot.

Otherwise, I much prefer the electronic edition. It's my preferred method of reading and is wonderfully convenient.

As a photographer, I buy photo books on paper still.

I'll also buy out-of-print books on paper.

Everything else is digital now.