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Old 04-12-2008, 10:44 AM   #78
rhadin
Literacy = Understanding
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Join Date: Dec 2007
Location: The World of Books
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Quote:
Originally Posted by vivaldirules View Post
I'm with you. These are statistics which I have a hard time digesting without more information about what titles they represent.
One problem, as noted by vivaldirules, is what the numbers represent. I would like to know how many of the Kindle and Sony titles are (a) variations on a theme (e.g., instead of 2 copies of Moby Dick does it include 25 copies) and (b) how many are public domain titles, such as Moby Dick, that one carries numerous versions of but the other doesn't.

Of course, there is another way to look at it -- or three ways: Will I live long enough to read the 100,000 Kindle titles or 40,000 Sony titles? (Not likely unless I can learn to speed read 10+ books a day!) What difference does it make that Kindle has 100,000 and Sony has 40,000 if one or both do not have the title I am looking for today? (It just means frustration, that's all!) And, finally, what good does it do if Kindle has 100,000 titles but I don't want to read 37 varieties of Moby Dick!

In the end, the statistics are just a sucker's game in that some of us suckers make our buying decision based on fantasy numbers that have little relevance to our personal habits, especially as things change rather than be static.

Now if only I could figure out what W.C. Fields would say about this . . .
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