h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

That's kind of my point though... PP's whole argument seems to hinge on the idea that All Books Can Be Bought Cheaper In The Shops Than They Can On Kindle, but that is demonstrably untrue.

Yeah, but is it all books, or all books they want to buy?

With me it's all the books I'd want to buy are as expensive if not more so in electronic format than they are in paper format. Plus, I already own most of them in paper so why get a reader?

The combination of convenience and ultra-cheap classics is why I have one. Also being able to get less popular modern books quite cheap.

Saves a hell of a lot of space on long journeys, too.

That sort of IS my arguement, but with a dash of I can wait, a dash of I'd rather have a hard copy (and this applies to everything downloadable) and another dash of not likeing the feeling tha I am being ripped off.

As it happens, moments ago somebody was talking to me about The Hairy Bikers / Dieters book. Hard copy £7.49. Kindle £7.99.

Somebody eplain THAT pricing structure to me!

PP.

Yeah, the space saving is what I'm thinking of.

But it's so far the only thing that's making me consider one.

Well I'm annoyed because I can't space save if buying the next in a series of books is more expensive in kindle format than as a hard copy..and I can't see any reason for it even taking the fact that digital books are VAT rated because some kindle versions ARE cheaper than the hard copy..

I just want to be sure that the kindle customer is being considered not exploited.

Amazon are a comercial company. They will charge the most that they can and whilst there is an upsurge in the popularity of the platform, they will make the most of it.

They will give the customer just enough consideration to keep them interested and stop them drifting away to another supplier.

Perhaps I should increase my anti-cynicism medication.

BTW, yesterday I got home to find that my latest Amazon acquisition, a bluetooth speaker to play my (ripped from my own CDs) MP3s through, had been delivered. £73 worth, tucked behind the bin but still in view, at the front of my house.

PP.

The worth of something to the person who is buying it is different for everyone.

I didn't want a Kindle really, but I received one as a present last December. I have bought one full-priced book since then for it, but it was about EUR 6 anyway, which isn't much.

For people like me, the Kindle is the way to go to get English language books at a reasonable price. I check the blog and get the deal of the day (in English). I've had a few books in German (most noteably 4 free romances on valentine's day which was ok)

you can email PDFs to the device to either read as PDFs or you can add something like (and I can't remember exactly) "convert" in the subject line of your mail and it arrives in (more or less) kindle format. Which has been handy for my Uni books.

You can get free of charge books in Kindle format from Amazon (out of copyright) or Gutenburg (out of copyright) which is great, and I've downloaded a few interesting ones that I wouldn't usually have bought.

My method of choice for purchasing tree books, when in the UK, is to hit the charity shops. I've found about half the Terry Pratchetts I've wanted like that, but not in any particular order. Same with the Sharpe books.

Amazon Marketplace (or Abe Books, or Awesome Books) are good for 2nd hand books. I have bought many at a price of 0.01 cents with €3 postage - and often they have been brand new, or nearly new. I started reading a series on Kindle because I got a couple for 0.99cents, but I've bought a few of the series 2nd hand (got 2 as a BOGOF in a charity shop which was a result!)

But I really don't know what the fuss is about. There are other readers available, and nobody has to buy one. If the Hairy Baker's book is more expensive as an eBook, then buy the paper version if you want it.

(as for petrol: our JET station is regularly 0.01 or 0.02 cents cheaper than the Shell station accross the road. But - the Shell station give me 0.01 cent discount if I show my ADAC card or pay with my Postbank card. Also, I get approx 20kms more out of a tank of shell than JET. So... where do I go? if the difference is more than 0.03 cents, then I go to JET. But... you also pay for convenience. There are 2 Shell stations where I live and one JET and often the queue for the JET is around the block and then some. My time is more valuable to me than that, most of the time, so I don't wait)

I tend to prefer CDs for music, but have bought a fair few MP3s which turned out to be cheaper, or even free! Amazon do a few free MP3s each month (this month includes this: http://www.amazon.co.uk/New-West-Amazon-MP3-Sampler/dp/B009XE9TT2/ref=wl_it_dp_o_pC_nS_nC?ie=UTF8&colid=1R3R3800J5BYE&coliid=I11FG18002K747 ) and I'm willing to give anything a go if they have the confidence in it that it will get me buying something, which is the assumption. Some of them have been just awful, but a few have been very good.

I swear some of you don't read what is typed.

I bought a kindle because I don't have room for anymore books so why the Hell would I then buy a hardcopy?

For my part, I'm not suggesting that you should. I'm saying that I wouldn't, that I would consider myself ripped off and that it is difficult to justify the pricing structure in my view.

PP.

Wasn't having a pop at you PP.

no at me I guess - but the point is, as I said at the very beginning of my post: the buyer has to decide what they want, and if it's the convenience of not having to find another 2 inches of space on an already overflowing bookshelf, then the difference in price is what you pay for that.

And if you don't think it's worth it, you either don't buy either copy, or you find the space.

It really does help if you read what people write, eh?

sorry, posted to early...

because the point is, as you said in your original post, I think: you want the Kindle for its space saving capabilities. I don't know why anyone would think that everything has to be cheaper than the alternative

I didn't think that anyone ws having a pop at anyone. Except perhaps me having a pop at Amazon.

I really can understand the benefit of the Kindle. Not least because the gross weight of my house could perhaps be reduced by about half a ton. And be less combustible. And my rooms would probably be about a foot bigger in every dimension.

Apart from that what have the Romans ever done for us?

PP

There's a simple solution if the Kindle version costs more than the hardcopy: bittorrent. DRM-free copy of the book on your Kindle for the princely sum of £0.00. Job done.

And if you're principled and want to pay your way - buy the hardcopy and immediately donate it to a charity shop. Conscience salved.

"is it possible for authors to self publish ebooks? "

Yes, it is. I recently published a book (buy my book! http://www.preparetofly.co.uk/ ), and had several options as to how to have it sold.

Option 1: publish as hardcopy through the POD publisher. Approx 50% of cover price to me for each sale. Sounds OK.

Option 2: publish as hardcopy through publisher but make available via Amazon. Approx. 20% of cover price to me for each sale. Hmm. Not a good deal, I think.

Option 3: publish as an ebook. Didn't take this option because I know from personal experience how easy and quick it is to copy ebooks for free. So, no thanks.

Part of the reason for not going the ebook route was the subject matter - it's the sort of thing I'd expect people to chuck in a rucksack, rather than shelve neatly, so an ebook wouldn't be appropriate in any case. But the ease of copying was certainly a factor.

But of course we do not recommend to anyone that they should engage in illegal activities such as downloading and copying ebooks, do we Hoo

I want to pay.I do not want to cheat the author..I do however want to see a fairer pricing system..just as everyone wants with films and music.

If I could see how they work out the pricing for the paperback version and for the kindle version I might be a little less peeved..

I'm also a bit annoyed at the magazine prices. I seem to be able to buy a physical copy of New Scientist and have it shipped to me, cheaper than I can buy an electronic version of it.

I can't even get Private Eye on the kindle..