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Refurbished Kindles $109.99

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Susan
Bibliomaniac
Posts: 3746
Joined: August 2008
Location: New Jersey, USA

Post by Susan » Tue July 13th, 2010, 12:39 pm

[quote=""Divia""]Why buy a 100 e reader when you can go to th elib and pick up a book for free.[/quote]

My library doesn't always have the books I want to read. I just checked the online catalog and my library does not own The Confessions of Catherine de Medici which I am currently reading. In fact, no library that I can get inter-library loan from has that book. My library does have the last book I read The Sisters Who Would Be Queen, but it is checked out... and guess what? Right in the online catalog there is a link to a review of that book and it is Misfit's review!

Newer books can usually be checked out only for a week. I don't read books as fast as some of you here, so the amount of time I can have a library book is an issue for me especially during the school year. I'd hate to have to renew a book and find out I can't because it is on reserve. Also in New Jersey, many library services such as inter-library loan are supposed to be cut.
~Susan~
~Unofficial Royalty~
Royal news updated daily, information and discussion about royalty past and present
http://www.unofficialroyalty.com/

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Ludmilla
Bibliophile
Posts: 1346
Joined: September 2008
Location: Georgia USA

Post by Ludmilla » Tue July 13th, 2010, 1:00 pm

[quote=""Susan""]My library doesn't always have the books I want to read. I just checked the online catalog and my library does not own The Confessions of Catherine de Medici which I am currently reading. In fact, no library that I can get inter-library loan from has that book. My library does have the last book I read The Sisters Who Would Be Queen, but it is checked out... and guess what? Right in the online catalog there is a link to a review of that book and it is Misfit's review!

Newer books can usually be checked out only for a week. I don't read books as fast as some of you here, so the amount of time I can have a library book is an issue for me especially during the school year. I'd hate to have to renew a book and find out I can't because it is on reserve. Also in New Jersey, many library services such as inter-library loan are supposed to be cut.[/quote]


This is exactly why I don't use my county's library, Susan. I finally broke down and bought a Sony eReader because 1) my local B&N closed 2) our county sytem has a crappy selection and is located in a crappy part of town that's also out of my way to drive to and from 3) I work f/t and have kids and no time to put in that much effort to chase down the books I want to read and 4) I had run out of shelf space. Writing was on the wall in huge, neon letters for me. :D

Re the direction libraries are headed... there may be closures and consolidations, but I think the benefits of offering ebooks (and audio downloads for that matter) can also offset some of their costs. One of the biggest costs for any business is maintaining the physical space.

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N. Gemini Sasson
Reader
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Joined: December 2009
Location: Ohio
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Post by N. Gemini Sasson » Tue July 13th, 2010, 1:13 pm

[quote=""LoveHistory""]Please let me know when it gets down to $10.99. :D [/quote]

Hey, I might even splurge on myself if it was $49.99. I do have the free Kindle for PCs on my laptop, but it's still not something I'm going to tote into the waiting room of the doctor's office and so far I've only read a couple of books on it.

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MLE (Emily Cotton)
Bibliomaniac
Posts: 3566
Joined: August 2008
Interest in HF: started in childhood with the classics, which, IMHO are HF even if they were contemporary when written.
Favourite HF book: Prince of Foxes, by Samuel Shellabarger
Preferred HF: Currently prefer 1600 and earlier, but I'll read anything that keeps me turning the page.
Location: California Bay Area

Post by MLE (Emily Cotton) » Tue July 13th, 2010, 1:35 pm

A couple of friends have kindles and I like the e-ink screen-- easier on the eyes than the backlit screen, and easier on the batteries. Plus for a few cents you can download your own pdfs for editing and review.
At the refurbished price, I'm ready to buy. But I went to the link, and guess what? They are all out.
maybe next time.

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Misfit
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Posts: 9581
Joined: August 2008
Location: Seattle, WA

Post by Misfit » Tue July 13th, 2010, 1:59 pm

My library does have the last book I read The Sisters Who Would Be Queen, but it is checked out... and guess what? Right in the online catalog there is a link to a review of that book and it is Misfit's review!
Odd, although I do post my reviews at my library's website.

You all are making me want to stop and kiss the ground my library branch is built upon. No mention yet of any cutbacks and they buy almost all the new stuff. The ILL's can come from anywhere in the country and only one time the lending library had a fee up front (I found the book elsewhere). New books get the same loan time as the old ones, and as long as someone isn't waiting their turn renewals are a breeze.

Test drive the catalog if you can stand the envy. kcls.org
At home with a good book and the cat...
...is the only place I want to be

traveldog
Scribbler
Posts: 48
Joined: January 2010
Location: Upstate New York

Post by traveldog » Fri July 16th, 2010, 4:54 pm

I think that from what you say of it, your library deserves that adoration, Misfit. I only wish......

Re: price of Kindle books. There is an "informal" customer boycott going on -- refusing to pay more than $9.99 for any book (technical and large reference volumes excepted). I'm sticking to it, and there is plenty to read even so. When you consider the mark-up they must have on a book that doesn't have to be produce or transported physically, I think drawing the line somewhere is reasonable. I hope many customers do it.

However ... and this would probably be a big drawback for many of you, because it's the brand new titles by popular authors that carry the higher prices, even if the backlist for the same author is $9.99 or below. Right now, it's a stand-off: a large group of us who won't pay more than $9.99 no matter how much we want the book *now.*

The only other real drawback to the Kindle that I've encountered is that the maps and family trees in the beginning of a book are difficult, sometimes impossible, to read. You can increase the font but on some of them, it's just too hard to see detail. For books that I know I'm going to want in hard copy also (as security against the 'great power outage' or changing technology), I photocopy the maps and family tree from the hard copy and stick it into my Kindle case (just did that with The Greatest Knight). And there are probably other maps and family trees online that you could print and use this way.

On the other side, I find that I *far* prefer to read a book on the Kindle! This surprised me, very much, and I can't really understand or explain it. Somehow I'm just more "into" what I'm reading on the Kindle (as well as having the lovely dictionary and search abilities). There is a simply qualitative difference that I can't put my finger on but is quite real. (Of course, it could be simply that it doesn't kill my bad shoulder to hold the Kindle as it does to hold a regular book. Pain can be quite a distraction, even if it's a great story.)

G. Alvin Simons
Reader
Posts: 70
Joined: November 2009
Location: Florida

Price of E-Books

Post by G. Alvin Simons » Fri July 16th, 2010, 9:47 pm

This discussion is interesting because I also have a Kindle that I bought to save money on the price of books. I read in the latest issue of Writer magazine that the publishers are fighting back about e-book prices, particularly against Amazon. They're saying the profit margin is too small & they intend to raise prices. This echoes the point that traveldog made.
I also agree with the free books point: http://manybooks.net// has a lot of free books for download & I've helped myself to several of these.
The last thing about the Kindle that I've really enjoyed is the immediate gratification. I've found myself on more than one occassion needing a book on a particular subject. I've been able to download either a free book or one from Amazon to fill my needs in under 5 minutes after locating the one that I wanted.

G. Alvin Simons

traveldog
Scribbler
Posts: 48
Joined: January 2010
Location: Upstate New York

Post by traveldog » Fri July 16th, 2010, 11:20 pm

I'll say the publishers are fighting back!!!!!! (And can you tell from the number of explanation points that I'm NOT happy about it?)

In Feb I purchased "The Sunne in Splendour" for $9.99 (and,I'm happy to say, I just checked and it's still ON my Kindle). However it can no longer be purchased for the Kindle. I'd told a friend about the book and when she went to purchase it there was no Kindle option. That made no sense, so I wrote Amazon. Their reply:

"I'm sorry to say that "The Sunne In Splendour: A Novel of Richard" isn't currently available for Kindle. Your direct feedback to the publisher is helpful.
Publishers grant eBook rights on a country by country basis, as a result availability and pricing of titles in the Kindle Store can vary. We are actively working with publishers to get the rights to all titles for every country and adding more selection every day."

I'd been taking my time about getting the rest of the SKP books (all of the historicals except "When Christ and His Saints Slept" were available on Kindle for $9.99 or less). I figured I'd just purchase and download each one when I was ready to read it. With trepidation, I checked to see if THEY were still there ........ and it's a sorry, sorry mess!

Time & Chance - paperback 10.88, Kindle 19.99!!
Devil's Brood - Hdback 11.58, paperback 10.88, Kindle $19.99!!
Here Be Dragons - paperback 11.53, no longer available on Kindle!!
Falls the Shadow - paperback 12.21, Kindle 9.99
The Reckoning - paperback 12.21, Kindle 9.99

Needless to say, I grabbed the last two, but it's no longer possible to read the first of that trilogy on Kindle. And, in practice, you can't read the rest of the other trilogy because no one (I hope!!!!) is going to pay ~$20.00 for a Kindle version when they can get a hard copy book for ~$10.

This is insane. It's like having a book flip in and out of print every week or so. And to think one of the great features (I thought) was that you could read series of books in order, whenever you were ready for the next one.

Oh, well, maybe it's time to spend a few months re-reading the classics -- as most of them can be obtained for free.

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Ludmilla
Bibliophile
Posts: 1346
Joined: September 2008
Location: Georgia USA

Post by Ludmilla » Fri July 16th, 2010, 11:55 pm

I'm not going to pay over $10 for an ebook (but admit that I wasn't much of a purchaser of HC or new fiction to begin with, I would usu wait for the MMP or TP). However, I have been willing to try new fiction that I wouldn't have taken a chance on before at the $9.99 price. I also read rumors earlier this year that pubs were considering staggering dates for HC, eBook and PB editions, waiting to release eBooks until HC had been out for several months as a way to make money on HC w/out competing with eBook prices. Don't know if that idea is still on the table. It's pretty clear ebooks are not going away.

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