[cswann1]

OK, so I get the new Kindle yesterday.
 
Man, what a slick little device.  The electronic ink really is like reading printed paper.  It's affordable, the perfect size, lasts a long time on a charge, and comes with a dictionary (two actually).
 
I was pretty jazzed about it, until I started shopping for books.
I could have sworn that I heard that the Kindle edition e-books were going to be about half the price of a printed paperback.  Paperbacks usually go off the shelf for $5.99-$8.99
 
That's the price range of the Kindle e-books (and some are much higher).   And I'm not talking about new releases, these are titles that have been out for years.  
 
Am I completely wrong?  Did I just imagine that I heard that Kindle e-books were supposed to be a lot cheaper because there is no cost of printing?
 

 

[basementdweller]

I've been looking into getting a Kindle and it was my impression that most modern books, even in digital form, go for about $9.99, however; Amazon's site states that there are thousands of free classics out there.  I primarily drift toward classical literature so I hope they are not lying.

 

[marvin]

You may have heard that e-books were going to be significantly cheaper than printed books, but those sources were mostly mistaken. The cost of printing a book is pretty small fraction (~ 10% for large runs) of a book's cost, so at most you're going to see a dollar's difference due to lower production costs between the dead tree and Kindle versions for paperbacks. Otherwise, it's up to the vagaries of the market and the rates that Amazon can negotiate with publishers.

 

[revolink24]

Quote:

I've been looking into getting a Kindle and it was my impression that most modern books, even in digital form, go for about $9.99, however; Amazon's site states that there are thousands of free classics out there.  I primarily drift toward classical literature so I hope they are not lying.

About 16,500 of them it seems!
 
http://www.amazon.com/s/?node=2245146011

 

[TheGame21x]

Well, I realized even before I bought one that the appeal of the Kindle isn't because of cheaper books. The main appeal of the device is that you can carry literally hundreds of books in a space that fits into a backpack or purse. It's a matter of convenience, not necessarily saving money. So, based purely on that convenience, I bought one and I love it. I still buy paperback books for casual reading from time to time but most of the time, I buy Kindle books solely because of its inherent advantages in regards to portability.

 

[Uncle Erik]

I have the Kindle app on my iPad and like it. I don't buy many new books, but the free classics are wonderful. I also like being able to consolidate a lot of PDF documents on one small device.

Oddly enough, when it comes to novels, I prefer to get them in dead tree form at used bookstores. Cheaper than downloading it, too.

 

[jude]

cswann1, even though I have an iPad, the the idea of the dedicated Kindle device gets very appealing when I'm trying to read an eBook (all in Kindle format, via the app) outside in the daytime.  (However, even if I had one, I'd still probably fall back on my iPhone for in-bed reading, as it's backlit, and encased in an Otterbox Defender case, for when I fall asleep while reading, and then inevitably find it underneath me in the morning.)  So congrats on the new Kindle, which does look very cool.
 
Regarding book prices:  I was always under the impression that the price advantage was primarily for new releases, where the usual ten-buck price is often far less than you're going to get the hardcover equivalent for.  I think once a title moves to paperback, the price difference disappears, or, as you've found, sometimes goes the other way.

 

[cswann1]

Good Feedback. Thanks all

 
 
I also tend to like the "book" experience when reading a good novel, but in the interest of preserving natural resources (I'm a bit of a tree-huger) I think I'll be able to live with the e-book prices.
 
And yes, there are a ridiculous number of classic works of literature available for free.   I started reading Oliver Twist last night.
 
 
I feel better about the Kindle now.  Thanks again

 

[GuruTech]

Oliver twist.... nice novel of an orphan.

 

[zotjen]

One of the reasons many Ebooks cost more than their paperback counterparts is because of the agency model which some publishers forced upon Amazon, thanks in part to Steve Jobs. Below is a llink to probably one of the best articles that describes the situation which I had previously posted in another thread.
 
http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2010/04/26/100426fa_fact_auletta
 
As far as the free classics available for the Kindle, what Amazon offers is just a drop in the bucket. Below is a short list of sites that also offer public domain books.
 
http://www.feedbooks.com/
http://manybooks.net/
http://www.mobileread.com/
 
Most books are already formatted in Amazon's proprietary azw format or the mobi format which can be read natively on the Kindle. You can also convert non-DRM ebooks in other formats (such as ePub) into the Kindle's format using Calibre, which is a great program you can also use to manage your Ebooks.
 
http://calibre-ebook.com/
 
 

 

[cswann1]

Yes, I was looking at a few titles on the Kindle Store and the price is often followed by "This price was set by the publisher".  It's like Amazon knows that the prices are high and are saying "hey, don't blame us!"
 
 
The Mobipocket app is free and lets you convert .txt, .doc, .docx, .pdf (and probably several other file types) to Kindle readable files. This opens up lots more options for reading your favorite ebooks on the Kindle, no matter where they come from.   Sometimes the conversion will have small errors though.
 
Thanks for the great post Zotjen

 

[Moontan13]

Quote:

Oddly enough, when it comes to novels, I prefer to get them in dead tree form at used bookstores. Cheaper than downloading it, too.

Vey true! At the DAV, I got paperback copies of The KIller Angels and Cold Mountain for $2.12. Thoswe would have cost about $16 via Kindle. I got some Sci-Fi anthologies on Kindle that would have cost a lot more even at used paperback prices.

 

[Moontan13]

I need to break myself of the habit of trying to turn the page, or conversly, scrolling down.
I found the bare unit a little too thin to hold onto. I like it a lot better inside a book-type case. For good measure I put an adhesive vinyl skin on it as well.
Anybody else get the warranty? I normally don't, but it gives you one intance of dropping or water damage, plus extends the regular warranty to two years.

 

[marvin]

Quote:

I need to break myself of the habit of trying to turn the page, or conversly, scrolling down.
I found the bare unit a little too thin to hold onto. I like it a lot better inside a book-type case. For good measure I put an adhesive vinyl skin on it as well.
Anybody else get the warranty? I normally don't, but it gives you one intance of dropping or water damage, plus extends the regular warranty to two years.

I got the warranty and had my Kindle replaced when my cat kicked it off of my desk and into a wall. Screen cracked, replacement was painless.

 

[basementdweller]

Quote:

I got the warranty and had my Kindle replaced when my cat kicked it off of my desk and into a wall. Screen cracked, replacement was painless.

I'm ordering one this week.  I'm not getting an extended warranty simply because every time I've purchased a warranty for anything the device either lasted forever or broke miraculously right after said extended warranty expired...basically I'm breaking a mirror and walking under a ladder to see what happens.