5 ms·

I've made the switch to ebooks.i haven't yet had a problem with pricing like you suggest, but I have been a little worried about my library of purchased books m

by amarant 5mo ago

I've made the switch to ebooks.i haven't yet had a problem with pricing like you suggest, but I have been a little worried about my library of purchased books might one day disappear since they all use DRM, and I don't really own any of my books in any real sense of the word. Then again, even that doesn't worry me too much, since I almost never read a book twice anyway. I think the only book I've read more than once is the hitchhiker's guide to the galaxy. For now, in my experience, ebooks have always been cheaper than print versions of the same work. I suspect that if one calculated the resell value of a printed book, the prices would come out about equal. Which is why I chose eBooks for their convenience.

xp84 5mo ago
The resale value of books isn’t that great for most individuals since you have to do at minimum the work of listing it on eBay, and maybe even listing it on Amazon who has much more hoops to jump through, and then pay for shipping and platform fees. But the value to publishers of killing off the used book market by not printing the paper book in the first place is the reason ebooks are so popular with them. Did you know that when libraries buy ebooks, the license automatically evaporates after a set number of loans? Like 10 or 20 IIRC.
- jszymborski 5mo ago
  My local indie bookshop will buy paper books off me with as much hoop jumping as it take to buy a book, but yah you recoup a small fraction of the cost.
jszymborski 5mo ago
This is why you download the liberated versions from Anna after supporting the author.
- OhMeadhbh 5mo ago
  I wish more authors or publishers would allow intarweb pirates the option of no questions asked anonymous payments for the digital copy they downloaded from Anna's.
VorpalWay 5mo ago
If you don't read a book multiple times, why not borrow from a public library (if such a thing exist in the country you live in)? Here in Sweden they are free, and you can even get them to loan a book from another library if they don't have it locally (though for physical books it will of course take a few days to get it delivered). Remote loans used to cist around 20 SEK (about 2 EUR), but is now also free since earlier this year. There are some books I absolutely buy (and I have a rather large library myself, entirely physical), but there are many cases where borrowing makes more sense.
- amarant 5mo ago
  I prefer the slim device that keeps track of where I am in the book, has a built in backlight that is easy on the eyes and doesn't disturb my wife when I'm reading in bed until long after she's asleep, and that lets me acquire the next book in a series with only a little bit more effort than it is too turn the page, over the heavy physical tome that would tire my arms. I am a creature of comfort after all!
  - sleazebreeze 5mo ago
    Many libraries have ebooks. I am familiar with the app Libby in parts of the US.
    - OhMeadhbh 5mo ago
      I've borrowed from archive.org quite a bit in the past several years. but it does require you to be online to read the book, which doesn't always work out for me. Also... Libby doesn't support my preferred 4 year old android tablet any more. I'm also widgy about the data they say they want to upload. But it's a great option if you have a modern device.
  - ninalanyon 5mo ago
    > device that keeps track of where I am in the book I use bookmarks, often the paper receipt from the purchase of the book itself.
bluebarbet 5mo ago
I'd argue that we never really "owned" books. Put aside the mundane physical object and assume that a book is a work of culture, authored by somebody else. What can "own" possibly mean in this context? You don't somehow commandeer its copyright by gaining an indefinite right to consult it. The words "own" and "buy" and "sell" are fundamentally ill-suited to abstract quantities such as knowledge and information and ideas. Perhaps our attachment to this (IMO) egregious category error of "ownership" can be explained by centuries of capitalism and (more recently) consumerism.
- throw5 5mo ago
  > What can "own" possibly mean in this context? This sounds unnecessarily reductive. By "own" I would mean that I can re-read the book again and again and again as many times as I want as long as I take good care of the book and prevent it from disintegrating. But the DRM e-books can't be used like that. That was their point.
  - OhMeadhbh 5mo ago
    After moving my personal library this month, I think I want to copy all my paper books to microfiche. I would absolutely buy first run books on fiche.
- opan 5mo ago
  This is about how I feel when people discuss "owning" games, and GOG vs Steam. It's just data, you can make a backup or get someone else's, bypass DRM if needed, and you don't own the copyright either way. Interestingly, though, when you apply it to books here, I feel shocked and even a little resistant to the idea. Mostly because of the physical object you say to put aside, though. Similarly to games, it would feel weird to say I owned an epub or pdf I downloaded. I'd probably say I "have" it, or "read it" or am "storing" it on x or y device.
  - bluebarbet 5mo ago
    >when you apply it to books here, I feel shocked and even a little resistant to the idea As you should, but my comment takes "book" to mean the cultural object, encompassing non-physical (e-)books.
OhMeadhbh 5mo ago
Anna's Archive can help you out with that. Illegal downloading is your greatest entertainment value.
tbossanova 5mo ago
The only reason I ever read HHGTTG as a kid is because it was on a bookshelf at home and I eventually got bored enough to pick it up. I don’t currently have an ebook equivalent of that for my kids

by amarant 5mo ago

xp84 5mo ago

The resale value of books isn’t that great for most individuals since you have to do at minimum the work of listing it on eBay, and maybe even listing it on Amazon who has much more hoops to jump through, and then pay for shipping and platform fees. But the value to publishers of killing off the used book market by not printing the paper book in the first place is the reason ebooks are so popular with them. Did you know that when libraries buy ebooks, the license automatically evaporates after a set number of loans? Like 10 or 20 IIRC.

jszymborski 5mo ago
My local indie bookshop will buy paper books off me with as much hoop jumping as it take to buy a book, but yah you recoup a small fraction of the cost.

jszymborski 5mo ago

This is why you download the liberated versions from Anna after supporting the author.

OhMeadhbh 5mo ago
I wish more authors or publishers would allow intarweb pirates the option of no questions asked anonymous payments for the digital copy they downloaded from Anna's.

VorpalWay 5mo ago

If you don't read a book multiple times, why not borrow from a public library (if such a thing exist in the country you live in)? Here in Sweden they are free, and you can even get them to loan a book from another library if they don't have it locally (though for physical books it will of course take a few days to get it delivered). Remote loans used to cist around 20 SEK (about 2 EUR), but is now also free since earlier this year. There are some books I absolutely buy (and I have a rather large library myself, entirely physical), but there are many cases where borrowing makes more sense.

amarant 5mo ago
I prefer the slim device that keeps track of where I am in the book, has a built in backlight that is easy on the eyes and doesn't disturb my wife when I'm reading in bed until long after she's asleep, and that lets me acquire the next book in a series with only a little bit more effort than it is too turn the page, over the heavy physical tome that would tire my arms. I am a creature of comfort after all!
- sleazebreeze 5mo ago
  Many libraries have ebooks. I am familiar with the app Libby in parts of the US.
  - OhMeadhbh 5mo ago
    I've borrowed from archive.org quite a bit in the past several years. but it does require you to be online to read the book, which doesn't always work out for me. Also... Libby doesn't support my preferred 4 year old android tablet any more. I'm also widgy about the data they say they want to upload. But it's a great option if you have a modern device.
- ninalanyon 5mo ago
  > device that keeps track of where I am in the book I use bookmarks, often the paper receipt from the purchase of the book itself.

bluebarbet 5mo ago

I'd argue that we never really "owned" books. Put aside the mundane physical object and assume that a book is a work of culture, authored by somebody else. What can "own" possibly mean in this context? You don't somehow commandeer its copyright by gaining an indefinite right to consult it. The words "own" and "buy" and "sell" are fundamentally ill-suited to abstract quantities such as knowledge and information and ideas. Perhaps our attachment to this (IMO) egregious category error of "ownership" can be explained by centuries of capitalism and (more recently) consumerism.

throw5 5mo ago
> What can "own" possibly mean in this context? This sounds unnecessarily reductive. By "own" I would mean that I can re-read the book again and again and again as many times as I want as long as I take good care of the book and prevent it from disintegrating. But the DRM e-books can't be used like that. That was their point.
- OhMeadhbh 5mo ago
  After moving my personal library this month, I think I want to copy all my paper books to microfiche. I would absolutely buy first run books on fiche.
opan 5mo ago
This is about how I feel when people discuss "owning" games, and GOG vs Steam. It's just data, you can make a backup or get someone else's, bypass DRM if needed, and you don't own the copyright either way. Interestingly, though, when you apply it to books here, I feel shocked and even a little resistant to the idea. Mostly because of the physical object you say to put aside, though. Similarly to games, it would feel weird to say I owned an epub or pdf I downloaded. I'd probably say I "have" it, or "read it" or am "storing" it on x or y device.
- bluebarbet 5mo ago
  >when you apply it to books here, I feel shocked and even a little resistant to the idea As you should, but my comment takes "book" to mean the cultural object, encompassing non-physical (e-)books.

OhMeadhbh 5mo ago

Anna's Archive can help you out with that. Illegal downloading is your greatest entertainment value.

tbossanova 5mo ago

The only reason I ever read HHGTTG as a kid is because it was on a bookshelf at home and I eventually got bored enough to pick it up. I don’t currently have an ebook equivalent of that for my kids