Armed Polite Society
Main Forums => The Roundtable => Topic started by: roo_ster on May 26, 2011, 12:34:32 PM
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http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2011/05/amazon-now-selling-more-kindle-books-than-print-books/239150/
The Kindle was only released in November of 2007, just three-and-a-half years ago. By 2009, Kindle book sales briefly surpassed print sales on the day after Christmas. In July of 2010, the eBook format overtook hardcovers, and six months later, it surpassed paperbacks.
Today, according to Amazon, eBooks have surpassed print books entirely; they are selling more Kindle editions than they are selling from all of their print formats combined. Since April 1st, they've sold 105 Kindle books for every 100 print editions.
The speed is remarkable, but the outcome doesn't surprise me. I buy almost everything for Kindle now, unless it doesn't have a Kindle edition, or it has lots of pictures that I want to examine in detail. Which is to say, not many. Frequently, if it doesn't have a Kindle edition, I don't order it at all.
And like many Kindle owners, I've found that I buy more books than I used to.
I buy many more new books than I used to, given that the eVersion is usually cheaper and many times comparable to what I'd pay for a used copy. This is true more for Baen than Amazon. Baen's average ebook costs $5, whereas Amazon averages $10.
I also don't have to find space to keep all my pleasure reading.
It is a new world out there, bibliophiles.
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Not for me it isn't.
I want books I can hand down to subsequent generations.
I want books I can share with my family members and friends.
I want books I can trade.
I want books I can sell to the used book store and get other used books.
Digital distribution doesn't allow for that.
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I want books I can hand down to subsequent generations.
All my ebooks are archived, both in DVD form here at the house, and "in the cloud"
I want books I can share with my family members and friends.
I want books I can trade.
I break the DRM on every ebook I buy, if it has it. A lot that I buy do not.
I want books I can sell to the used book store and get other used books.
Can't help ya there ;-)
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I break the DRM on every ebook I buy, if it has it. A lot that I buy do not.
How?
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Since it's been declared OK to break DRM for personal use, can i get a mod's permission to post a link to how?
:police: :police: :police:
Attention mods!
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Seconded.
This has been my one single objection to getting into e-books myself.
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In the 1982 movie, Star Trek II; The Wrath of Khan, there was a scene in which Mr. Spock gives Admiral Kirk a copy of Dickens .... book form. How quiant. Old fashioned -- like the glasses Kirk used to read.
Only three decades later (not three hundred years) we are now approaching a time in which the old fashioned printed book (I have a million of 'em) is -- possibly -- going out of style.
A shame really.
Someone get back to me when Scotty invents the warp-drive ..... [tinfoil] =D
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I always find it amusing to read about people using book readers in older science fiction novels while reading on my Kindle.
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Since it's been declared OK to break DRM for personal use, can i get a mod's permission to post a link to how?
:police: :police: :police:
Attention mods!
Has DMCA 1201 been shot down in court?
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they want 16.99 for dune? good luck with that
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After somebody sets off an EMP above the US my paper and ink books will still work fine. Good luck getting your Kindle to work! =D
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Not for me it isn't.
I want books I can hand down to subsequent generations.
I want books I can share with my family members and friends.
I want books I can trade.
I want books I can sell to the used book store and get other used books.
Digital distribution doesn't allow for that.
This. I also want something that doesn't rely on batteries, or processors for that matter.
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I've also noted the same amusing fact... automatic doors, cellphones, e-book readers... they're all Star Trek tech. :lol:
Science fiction, GOOD science fiction, seems to push techies and geeks toward developing the neat tech from the stories. Heck, what's a netbook/compact laptop but a computer like Picard's? What's an e-book reader if it's not a Star Trek data tablet? What's a cellphone if not a Kirk-age communicator? ;)
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So, how long until replicators, phasers & Borg nanotech?
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Soon, I hope. I'd give up every last gun I own for a phaser.
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Soon, I hope. I'd give up every last gun I own for a phaser.
Meh. I'd rather have a blaster, like Han Solo had.
"Ancient weapons and hokey religions are no match for a good blaster at your side, kid."
Phasers are for tights-wearing phags. =D
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Phasers are for tights-wearing phags. =D
You *#&$% Son of a Wookie!!! ;)
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Heck, what's a netbook/compact laptop but a computer like Picard's?
Didn't laptops come first?
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I believe so, but they were extraordinarily bulky and nothing like the look of those "command computer units" that Picard and other captains used. I believe the comparison stands. ;)
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USB thumb drives, too. First time i saw one was on Star trek Voyager. Then they showed up a few years later.
Anywho: I think for most people, ebooks serve a good purpose. Much of what we read, if we're voracious readers, isn't worth hanging onto.
I will order print copies of things i REALLY love. I have a large collection of paperbacks.
But for the *expletive deleted*it i'll never touch again, ebooks all the way.
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So have we decided whether the Nook or Kindle is better?
I'm kinda with Fitz here. I'll buy paper copies of books I want to keep around and loan out, but my house is getting pretty damn cluttered with trashy paperbacks.
"Oh, John Ringo, No!"
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I actually prefer ebooks for the books I go back to again and again. No such thing as a dog eared, falling apart ebook. No losing my notes either.
I was having a discussion with a good friend the other day--a few months back I convinced him to buy a Kindle, and even though he loves it, he still pictures his ideal library as a room full of shelves of thousands of big hardcovers. I told him my ideal library was four Kindles--one for the bathroom, one for the bedroom, one for the family room, and one for my bag. With that setup I'd almost always have my entire library, all my notes, and all of my bookmarks within arms reach.
But a lot of it comes from me being a guy who doesn't like to own a lot of stuff.
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I believe so, but they were extraordinarily bulky and nothing like the look of those "command computer units" that Picard and other captains used. I believe the comparison stands. ;)
The Linus entered the market in 1987, the same year TNG debuted. Picard's computer was no doubt better, but it's kinda hard to say that it inspired a technology that was already well underway when the show first aired.
http://oldcomputers.net/linus.html
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I have a Nook Color. Many of B&N's ebooks are loanable. I think it depends on the owning publisher's decision.
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"Oh, John Ringo, No!"
That is a running joke with my GF and I. That and Kratman is watching...
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In the 1982 movie, Star Trek II; The Wrath of Khan, there was a scene in which Mr. Spock gives Admiral Kirk a copy of Dickens .... book form. How quiant. Old fashioned -- like the glasses Kirk used to read.
Only three decades later (not three hundred years) we are now approaching a time in which the old fashioned printed book (I have a million of 'em) is -- possibly -- going out of style.
A shame really.
Someone get back to me when Scotty invents the warp-drive ..... [tinfoil] =D
First-edition/heirloom-edition books, IMO, will *NEVER* go out of style. There will always be people for whom the feel of an old, leather-bound, beautifully-finished book is itself a thing of necessary beauty. If I had room, and the budget for it, I would have the classic library seen in the Rich Guy's Mansion in movies and TV - and I am one of the bigger cheerleaders here for ebooks.
Textbooks and other books with diagrams or art, IMO, also tend to work better in dead-tree, although as technology continues to advance, that might change. I will not, at this time, purchase an e-textbook for any of my classes, and the US history class I'm currently taking which is all online (no required text, which I thought was pretty cool!), I find I'm printing out the online lessons and such for offline review. Sometimes, I really do just want to flip back and forth between actual, physical pages.
That {"Oh, John Ringo, no..."} is a running joke with my GF and I. That and Kratman is watching...
Heh. I'm pretty sure I have all of Ringo's offerings in e-formats - and most of Kratman's, excepting perhaps a couple of Tom's most-recent releases. I would not buy most of them in dead-tree, although there are some of Ringo's that I would. But the Ghost series? Nah. Baen's promotional CDs are a Godsend, for voracious readers - once again, for those interested, check out Joe Buckley's Baen CD site (baencd.thefifthimperium.com - currently not coming up for me here at work, but it's worked in the past). I've gotten a bunch of them there, after getting several via hardcover purchases.
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Someone get back to me when Scotty invents the warp-drive ..... [tinfoil] =D
*ahem* Zephram Cochrane. :police:
I mean... what?
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1973 Encyclopedia Britanica full set marked in pencil on the inside cover with a National Geographic Editors name.
keep or toss?
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*ahem* Zephram Cochrane. :police:
I mean... what?
OK, OK, picky, aren't we?!?! I think a lot more non Trekkers know who Scotty was than Zephram Cochrane.
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1973 Encyclopedia Britanica full set marked in pencil on the inside cover with a National Geographic Editors name.
keep or toss?
Keep.
Likely not too ate up with PC in 1973 and sounds collectible.
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And now, to fire up the Nook vs. Kindle debate, there's a new Nook: The Simple Touch Reader
(https://armedpolitesociety.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimg1.imagesbn.com%2FpImages%2Fnook%2F2%2Foverview%2Fslideshow%2Foverview_slideshow_chap1.jpg&hash=4712b2a3427f49eb4639b024f718abf34344f098)
http://www.barnesandnoble.com/nook/index.asp?PID=35699 (http://www.barnesandnoble.com/nook/index.asp?PID=35699)
DD
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I'm seriously considering dropping coin on an e-reader in the next week or two. I guess the contest is between the Nook Touch Reader and the Kindle 3. I like the Nook's ease of PDF support. I have a bunch of digital TM's I'd probably throw on any e-reader I got. Kindle has 3G though. Tough call.
Does anyone know whether you can share books amongst the family with these things? i.e. Say my wife buys an e-reader too. If I buy a book and read it can I take it off my reader and put it on hers without buying it again? Not really thinking about Nook's 14 day lend thing, more like the electronic equivalent of my reading the book and then handing it to her to read.
Tough decisions.
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I'm seriously considering dropping coin on an e-reader in the next week or two. I guess the contest is between the Nook Touch Reader and the Kindle 3. I like the Nook's ease of PDF support. I have a bunch of digital TM's I'd probably throw on any e-reader I got. Kindle has 3G though. Tough call.
Does anyone know whether you can share books amongst the family with these things? i.e. Say my wife buys an e-reader too. If I buy a book and read it can I take it off my reader and put it on hers without buying it again? Not really thinking about Nook's 14 day lend thing, more like the electronic equivalent of my reading the book and then handing it to her to read.
Tough decisions.
If it's non-DRM'd you can. Don't know what happens with DRM'd books. And I think I read something about you being able to link two or three Kindles to the same account and share books between them, but I don't know for sure. I'm going to have to track that down...
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Found it.
From Amazon's Kindle FAQs (http://www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/display.html/ref=hp_kcw_T3__faq?ie=UTF8&nodeId=200127470#FAQs):
Can I share content with other Kindles?
You can enjoy your Kindle content on Kindle devices or Kindle applications that are registered to your Amazon.com account. There may be limits on the number of devices (usually six) that can simultaneously use a single book. Subscriptions to newspapers or periodicals cannot be shared on multiple devices. You can see all your Kindle content and send downloads to your registered Kindles or Kindle applications from the "Your Orders" section of the Manage Your Kindle page.
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And I think I read something about you being able to link two or three Kindles to the same account and share books between them, but I don't know for sure.
Pretty sure that's the case with Nook. I downloaded their owner's manual some time back. It referred to (IIRC) starting to read a book on one device, picking up where you left off on another, then continuing on yet another. That certainly implies that you can have multiple devices on the same account (Nook, P.C./laptop, smartphone...). Of course, you'd want to only link devices that can only be accessed by someone trusted. Wouldn't want just anyone to have access to the debit or credit card linked to that account.
DD