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$80-100 is incredibly cheap for any mainstream tech device when you factor in design, manufacturing, marketing, shipping, software, support. eReaders are alread
by paxys 1y ago
$80-100 is incredibly cheap for any mainstream tech device when you factor in design, manufacturing, marketing, shipping, software, support. eReaders are already sold at or below cost because companies are hoping that you will buy books to make up the difference. Wanting one for the price of a paperback so you can throw it away once you are done is absurd.
I got a Kindle Paperwhite for ~$100 in 2016 and still use it almost every day. Easily the best value gadget I have ever owned.
- zzbn00 1y agoI agree. And the cost of ebooks is often very reasonable, Amazon are selling lots (more than one can read in a lifetime) of superb stuff in the $1-$4 range. (Makes things really difficult for the modern authors though). Also a paper book you'd carry every day with you for a year will look in much worse state than a Kindle. Reading e-books is an affordable past time...
- ornornor 1y agoTo be pedantic, Amazon sells you a license to read the book but you don’t actually own the book like you would a real book. They can remove the book anytime and there is nothing you can do about it. They’ve already done it in the past, the book just vanished.
- amanaplanacanal 1y agoIf you are really worried about this, you can pirate the book from the usual sites and side load it onto your kindle.
- paxys 1y agoYou can strip DRM in one click using Calibre. That way you can support the author and also own the book forever.
- GolfPopper 1y agoYep. I don't mind paying authors and published for ebooks, but I draw the line at Amazon controlling my library. It seems like one solution might be to buy the ebook via whatever platform the author says is best for them, and then acquire a copy you control via other means.
- zzbn00 1y agoThe terms of service in UK seem better in this regard than USA. Which/why did they remove the book?
- xethos 1y agoThe famous example is the removal of George Orwell's 1984. Note that Bezos called it all kinds of things, but did not revert the change according to the article [0] [0] https://www.npr.org/2009/07/24/106989048/amazons-1984-deletion-from-kindle-examined https://www.npr.org/2009/07/24/106989048/amazons-1984-deleti...
- ornornor 1y agoHere: https://gizmodo.com/amazon-secretly-removes-1984-from-the-kindle-5317703 https://gizmodo.com/amazon-secretly-removes-1984-from-the-ki... The irony that it was Orwell’s 1984 that was secretly removed from purchasers’ kindles seem to have been totally lost on Amazon.
- zzbn00 1y agoI didn't know about that, would have been right that Amazon pays damages to the copyright holder. But they did at least refund the price paid, so the readers were no worse off than at start. Generally not a big fan of Amazon-world, but if you don't mind reading older books kindle is good value I think. My 30pence copy of Orwell's "Homage to Catalonia" was very good value, and has not yet mysteriously disappeared from my Kindles!
- TylerE 1y agoSome books prices are ok. Infuriates me when the paperback is $4-5 cheaper than the ebook, henchman’s exactly uncommon.
- schnitzelstoat 1y agoI replaced my Paperwhite in December 2024 for a new Paperwhite. I bought it in November 2014. It's the best gadget I've ever bought.
- qwerpy 1y agoDoes the screen redraw faster on page turns? It’s the one thing that keeps me from using my old paperwhite very often. I would be willing to trade off considerable battery life for pages to turn instantly, which my iPad can do but I want e-ink.
- tarentel 1y agoHow old is your paperwhite? I upgraded mine around the same time of the post you're replying to with roughly the same length inbetween. The difference in page turn between the two devices is night and day. The new ones are insanely fast. With that being said, it is noticeable and not nearly as quick as an iPad. Check out some demoes though to see if it is tolerable for you.
- qwerpy 1y ago7th gen from 2016. Noticeable is ok but it was too noticeable.
- squigz 1y agoCompared to the earlier generations of Kindles, yes, they are considerably faster, but you'll likely never get "instant" page turns on an e-ink display. For what it's worth, I've never found the page turning to interrupt my flow - except when I accidentally drop it on my face and it turns pages! :D
- genewitch 1y agoSome e-ink can be refreshed ~10fps I think. And old kindles had the ability to increase turn speed but it could leave artifacts on the screen, iirc
- oliwary 1y agoI have a kindle 4 from 2011, still runs like a champ and holds multiple weeks of charge. I have had zero issues. I wish all gadgets were like this.
- stevekemp 1y agoSadly I seem to have kindles which suffer from increasing numbers of stuck pixels after 3-5 years. I think I'm on my third now, and while I kinda begrudge buying new ones the paper-white I've got now, with backlight, is such a pleasure to use I can almost forgive it.
- dwood_dev 1y agoMy son uses a Kindle DX. I had to replace the battery, it doesn't have WiFi, and they shut down the 3G network access years ago. It's perfect in that way. No distractions and no network access. I removed the 3G modem when I replaced the battery to prevent it from being turned on and draining the battery as it constantly tries to connect. The microusb port is not in great condition and only works with the cable at certain angles. On the bright side, that's only an issue every few weeks when it gets charged and a new load of books. My wife has the newest basic Kindle because she prizes light weight over any other aspect.
- thaumasiotes 1y ago> when it gets charged and a new load of books. Zeugma in the wild.
- jjice 1y agoTotally agree. I was given a Kindle Paperwhite as a gift (great gift idea, by the way) and eventually bought a Kobo for some more flexibility. Both were about $120 retail. It brought so much reading into my life - I'm a full ebook convert at this point. Few pieces of tech could give me so much value.
- mvdtnz 1y agoWhat do you use the extra flexibility for? I have a Kobo because I don't give money to Amazon. I wouldn't know what to do with it other than buy books from kobo.com and read them.
- jjice 1y agoI purchase a lot of independent ebooks that come as epub files. You can send them through amazons kindle service or convert them with Calibre, but I love being able to just drag and drop any file I want onto it. I've purchased books on the train and dragged and dropped them onto the Kobo mid ride. It's mostly because I like owning a more portable file.
- leokennis 1y agoSame here. €125 6 inch Kobo. Black and white screen with backlight and good resolution. USB-C. With WiFi off, battery lasts a month. Holds 1000's of books. Don't see why I'd need a new ereader for at least a decade to come.
- geokon 1y agoI think you're making the author's point. They cost the same 10+ years ago. They should be cheaper. And $100 is not chump change - but depends on where you live. Three day's salary for me (grad student)
- zamadatix 1y agoI think we've passed the era of most new electronic devices constantly coming down in price due to time passing. They were all already mass produced commodities with competition at each step of the chain 10 years ago. On whether $100 is incredibly cheap/"chump change": It really is incredibly cheap, especially for a new electronic device you can use for thousands of hours over 9 years. That's not the same as a claim it's an easy expense for every person, if we become bound by that definition of cheap then there is no such price which everyone can easily afford and we lose the distinction. On that note, I often wonder if it's cheaper for libraries to just rent out ereaders than manage more physical book storage and exchange. I know my local library already does rentals but I'm not sure of the economics.
- jerlam 1y agoCompanies gotta show increasing profit. Once the market is saturated, you can't rely on selling more devices, even at lower prices. Companies have to turn to extracting more money from existing customers, like subscriptions and services.
- dingnuts 1y agoThat's not why. It's because Moore's Law died. Same reason we need 10x compute for each 2x performance increase from LLMs. Where's GPT5 anyway? Isn't that supposed to be out by now? Sorry, that's not super relevant..
- goosedragons 1y agoeBooks are expensive for libraries. Publishers are asshats and charge considerably more for eBook licences that expire after X uses or Y time, whichever comes first.
- jrm4 1y agoI see this both ways; and the answer is obviously supply and demand, but it's not hard to think that the tech shouldn't be like 5 bucks a pop; e.g. if it became more popular to also use these as displays etc, in much the same way that big screen tvs are used to do menus at fast food places, etc.
- freerk 1y agoI just got a R36s retro handheld console for 31€ (US$35) including a 64GB microSD and shipping from Aliexpress. Apparently sometimes you can get it for as low as $25. It has a IPS instead of a eINK screen, but the CPU, RAM, Storage, battery etc. are as good or better as any ereader, so it is possible to get a tech device for way less than $80-100. But I guess it won't count as mainstream and nobody should expect support. It relies on open-source software (ArkOS) and ships pirated roms of abandoned game consoles, so there is no option for the manufacturer (unknown) to earn more after the sale.
- Suppafly 1y ago>$80-100 is incredibly cheap for any mainstream tech device when you factor in design, manufacturing, marketing, shipping, software, support. Not to mention that you can just buy an old generation, or used/refurbished, if you want cheaper than that.
- rcarmo 1y agoThe Kindle is still amazing value for money at any price - especially when compared to others with a smaller ecosystem. And being able to sideload DRM-free books I get on other stores (while I can) is just icing on the cake since I want to actually own my books and read them in future devices. That said, I am very happy with my Supernote Nomad as an e-reader as well (it is a note taking device, but runs the Kindle Android app) even if it is completely out of the price range the OP discusses.