Giving up on e-books.

[whereami48]

Hi
My wife and I love our Sony PRS-650 ereaders and wonder how we ever managed without them, we travel a lot in our RV and considering we both have over 50 books each loaded at any time, just the mechanics of not carrying around the weight of paper books alone is reason enough to use one
.
Some books are duplicated in each reader as we have similar interests and even that alone would be a nightmare if she was reading one that I was waiting for.
Now we can each read whenever it suits us.

Ok DRM and formats can be a pain at times, but the internet is an amazing "tool" and I have never had an "issue" for long.

Some ebooks can be expensive to purchase and in my opinion should be far cheaper to produce.
Living in Australia, it is also frustrating when I see a USA price, compared to some of our ebook pricing.
But I could just not imagine going back to paper editions now.

[astra]

Originally Posted by Taylor514ce

My PRS-505 is gathering dust, and I'm thoroughly enjoying my trips to Chicago's fantastic public libraries to check out my books.

Enjoy the reading

[Sweetpea]

Originally Posted by ColdSun

You can take my ebook device from me only when you pry it from my cold dead hands!

Not even then! I want to be buried with it, can you imagine there being an afterlife and then finding out you didn't have your reader with you

Originally Posted by bevdeforges

The libraries here proudly carry only French titles and don't even want donations of literary works in foreign languages like English. Bookshops are protected by legal price protection and only the largest book shops in Paris carry anything more than the "trade bestsellers" you can find in any international airport in the world.

That's something I've noticed in other countries as well. Here, the average bookstore has a nice selection of English, German and French books (not sure about the size of the French and German parts, because I don't read those languages, but the English part is usually decent, with at least all recent bestsellers and most often a decent selection of older books).

[astra]

Originally Posted by Sweetpea

Not even then! I want to be buried with it, can you imagine there being an afterlife and then finding out you didn't have your reader with you

[TGS]

Originally Posted by Taylor514ce

My PRS-505 is gathering dust, and I'm thoroughly enjoying my trips to Chicago's fantastic public libraries to check out my books.

All lot of truth in what you say....so...about this 505 gathering dust, of no use or real monetary value to you I guess...you'll be wanting to clear that space for real books then...

[L.J. Sellers]

I hope your feelings are temporary. There's nothing wrong with enjoying books in multiple formats. I still read library books and the print books I had stacked up when I got my Kindle. I read e-books on it too. It's all good.
L.J.

[Edmund]

No hope that prices will come down. As long as folks buy what the publishers put out and at costs higher than paper. As for me, I'm back to the library.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by ManosHandsOfFate

But you live in Roslindale! It's awesome there.

- Former West Roxbury Resident

So what made you leave?

I have access to the Minuteman Library, Boston Library, DC Library, Philly Free Library, and CLAMS Library (Cape Cod) and eventually I'll get access to Nobels Library.

So I do have pretty decent library access for eBooks and I find it very useful.

[JSWolf]

As for the Agency 5, I have to say that because of them, I am spending a lot less on eBooks then I was before they became the Agency 5. I got a lot of free eBooks from libraries. It is their fault. I branched out and got access to more libraries as a result. So thank you to the Agency 5 for allowing me to read more for free.

[leebase]

To each his own. Horses for courses. Etc. Ad infinitum.

Lee

[ManosHandsOfFate]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

So what made you leave?

Job. I do like Chicago. Less snow than Boston but colder winters.

I have access to the Minuteman Library, Boston Library, DC Library, Philly Free Library, and CLAMS Library (Cape Cod) and eventually I'll get access to Nobels Library.

So I do have pretty decent library access for eBooks and I find it very useful.

I can see how you've gotten access to a number of those but the Philly one? How do you manage that?

Is there a post here somewhere that details how non-residents can gain access to the digital collections of out-of-state libraries?

[Taylor514ce]

There's nothing wrong with the PRS-505 per se; I only meant that in terms of enthusiasm, the devices themselves are next to meaningless (for me). I don't care for touch screen, don't need wifi or any other connectivity to a particular store, and so on.

Perhaps everything is just moving too slowly for my impatient tastes. I want to buy any title, at a reasonable price, from any book vendor, online or brick-and-mortar. Why can't I plug a USB drive into a Kiosk at Barnes and Noble and buy any title and have it work on whatever device I own?

Why can't I, on an airplane sitting next to a Kindle owner, talk about what we've read recently, and at some point say, "I think you'd like THIS, I'm through reading it, you can have my copy..."?

If I do ever "get rid of" my PRS-505, will I still own the books I purchased? Or does the industry still think I didn't really buy a book, but rather licensed content for a particular device?

So I've decided I will not purchase any books, in any format, again. Yes, there is Overdrive, and I use it, and I will borrow books from friends or from the library and keep on reading.

But the e-book phenomenon, for this adopter, has been squashed by the publishing industry, and so they've lost a customer.

[SameOldStory]

Originally Posted by ManosHandsOfFate

Job. I do like Chicago. Less snow than Boston but colder winters.



I can see how you've gotten access to a number of those but the Philly one? How do you manage that?

Is there a post here somewhere that details how non-residents can gain access to the digital collections of out-of-state libraries?

I found this for you. It explains it well. This is the cheapest ($15) that I found for out of area lending. And if you're 65+ and out of area it's free! It does take a bit of trial and error to find stuff, but most libraries seem just as bad.

Originally Posted by HorridRedDog

I registered online at:
http://libwww.freelibrary.org/register/getcard1.cfm


Library Cards
A Free Library card is available at no cost to anyone who lives, works, pays taxes, or goes to school in the City of Philadelphia. In addition, anyone who is 65 or older or who has a valid card with an Access PA sticker from another Pennsylvania library can obtain a Free Library card without charge. Out-of-state residents can obtain a card by paying an annual fee of $15.00.

Cards should arrive in the mail in 5-10 business days. Keep in mind that you’ll need to show ID the first time you use your card.

The last part is, I suppose, for checking out physical material.

For those not in Philadelphia, or without an "Access PA" library card, it seems that you can pay only a $15.00 fee.

I checked with some of the other library web pages from around the country. Many state that the "out of area" fee is equal to the county property tax that residents pay. Sounds fine with me.

[Harmon]

Originally Posted by Taylor514ce

My enthusiasm is gone.

None of the new devices seems to offer any improvements over my Sony PRS-505, at least none that appeal to me.

More importantly, the general bull-headedness of publishers in regard to understanding and pricing e-books, has completely disillusioned me in regard to purchasing any e-books, from any publisher or retailer. DRM is still an issue, formats are still not standardized... the list goes on.

My PRS-505 is gathering dust, and I'm thoroughly enjoying my trips to Chicago's fantastic public libraries to check out my books.

Hey, I live in Chicago & have a 505, too. If the 505 had wireless, I think it would still be the best EBR around.

Except.

I also own a Kindle DX. I thought that the iPad would kill it off, but I have an iPad & am happy to have the DX as well. The DX is my primary EBR these days - except when I'm not at home. Then I use my 300 or my 505. I bought the 300 back when I was having issues with the 505 - at one point it would brick every time I used Sony Library. But the new SL version has unbricked it somehow.

I'm thinking I'll make the 505 my Instapaper reader. The 300 is really too small for that - I use the 300 for my escapist reading like mysteries & science fiction.

I still read pbooks, of course. But I have to say that mainly those are used books. I've pretty much stopped buying new books, unless it's my only option.

I don't use the library anymore. I don't tend to read just one book at a time, so the return period is an issue for me.

The D X is still expensive, so I really can't urge you to buy one. But maybe the next iteration will be a better deal.

[greencat]

I tend to read the classics and other free legal stuff on my ereaders. DRM isn't a problem and nor is cost.

I do have a 505 gathering dust a bit though as it's hard to find time for it with a Kindle and iPad.