How much have you saved by buying an ereader?

[Quexos]

I've saved a lot. But only I do know what I mean

[CWatkinsNash]

I don't even know how to calculate it. I've read about 120 ebooks since I got my K3 in Dec 2010, so that's 17 months. If I had to guess (because I don't track this info), I'd say about:

60% were either freebies or library checkouts
20% were $3 or less
10% were more than $3 but less than cover price (sales, bundles, etc)
10% were full-price (ie, equivalent to paperback price)

I'm going to estimate and say that comes out at about $160.

For this exercise, I'm completely ignoring the huge mass of free books that I haven't read yet.

Had I bought them all in paper (as I rarely used the library when it required going there), I would have probably paid my pre-ereader average of $6 per book. That would have been $720 total.

But, of course, these numbers are actually meaningless, because had I not gotten my Kindle (and later, my Sony) there is no way in the world I would have read anywhere close to 120 books in that time period.

TL;DR - I don't know.

[kennyc]

Originally Posted by Belfaborac

Saved? I've probably doubled my spending, not counting the cost of the readers. Which is fine, since saving money was never a factor in getting them in the first place.

This, plus buying other e-readers tablets and ...

[kennyc]

Originally Posted by plib

Does that include tax?

[pidgeon92]

I hadn't purchased a novel for at least ten years prior to getting my first Kindle. Instead, I went to the library at least once a week. My ereader habit has been rather expensive.

[twowheels]

For me, reading became more expensive, but I can't truly quantify it. Ignoring the fact that the Kindle and lighted cover has cost me 1.4 cents per "print-length page" to date, I now buy my books from Amazon new rather than browsing the library book sale or used book stores. Instead, I've been paying full agency price due to the fact that agency pricing started shortly after I bought my Kindle.

On the other hand, I now do my book shopping JIT (just in time)... I tend to buy fewer books on speculation, many of which went unread. I have quite a few paper books that I bought thinking that they looked interesting, then never got around to reading them. I do that now and then with ebooks, but mostly 99 cent specials, so I have fewer of those "lying around".... so maybe it has been an overall savings.

The other problem with calculating cost/savings, is the fact that I read WAY more than before, so, again, I'm spending more than before.

[ATDrake]

I would not consider "saving" to be the direction my money has been moving in since I first acquired a Kindle. I'm fortunate enough to live near several very well-stocked libraries and bookstores which offer an interesting selection at occasionally deep-discount sale prices.

That said, I do spend my e-book money on generally rather different things than I buy in paper (and for those which I would buy in paper, there's a roughly equivalent price overlap between used sf/fantasy and reasonably-priced backlist ebooks of such).

And a fair portion of the e-books I've bought on sale to sample from smaller publishers and the like are things that were nice enough to read, but I wouldn't particularly care to have a paper copy of lying around.

And I suppose for the latter two categories I do save space that I can then apply to acquiring even more deluxe hardcover artbooks and the like.

But yeah, I'm basically buying and acquiring more books than ever now. They've just gotten somewhat easier to store away and hide.

[cromag]

I'm way in the "savings" territory. Even when you overlook the freebies I've gotten (that would never have been available "free" in paper), and consider that I have bought more ebooks than I would have bought conventional books in that time period. The ebooks I've bought have been on sale at much lower prices than the equivalent paperback would have cost me.

For instance, I just finished reading Honey in the Flesh, a "Honey West" mystery from 1959. It cost $2.50 ($4.99, less a 50% coupon). Similar 1950s-1960s "noir" mass market (read: trashy) paperbacks in readable shape start at $5 at my local used book store -- but the last few times I was there they didn't have any Honey West novels. This book is available as a used paperback at Amazon, but the prices seem to start at $6, plus $4 shipping and handling.

That kind of savings buys another book (that I might not otherwise have purchased).

So, I'm reading (a lot) more, and it's costing me less.

[AnemicOak]

In earlier days I saved enough in the difference between paper price and ebook that both my Sony 505 and K2 paid for themselves. Since Agency pricing happened I'd have to do some math, but I'd guess I save very little.

[Dazrin]

From what I can see in this thread Amazon should be giving Kindle's away! Everyone seems to be spending more.

I certainly have read more, but enough of it has been free that I don't think I am spending any more, so probably a wash for me.

[dkb]

I stopped keeping track of the money I saved downloading books from my local library when I reached $800. I started using the library shortly after agency pricing went into effect. I still buy a lot of books, but certainly nothing over $10.

[The Terminator]

I really probably haven't saved any money, I just like reading on it better. If the eReader was free then I would have saved some money, but it wasn't, and I've bought 2 at full price in the last two years.

[odiakkoh]

I also haven't saved anything. I have bought more books in the past year than the 5 years before that put together. There has only been 1 book I actually paid full price for though and that was my very first ebook.

[soulfuldog]

Originally Posted by pidgeon92

I hadn't purchased a novel for at least ten years prior to getting my first Kindle. Instead, I went to the library at least once a week. My ereader habit has been rather expensive.

I'm sort of the same, generally only bought paperbacks for going away on holiday, used my local library and the odd used book from charity shops the rest of the time.

In saying that, I've not spent anywhere near as much as I feared I would (mainly due to the number of freebies on Amazon), and I now I get Amazon gift vouchers to buy ebooks as birthday presents, which is a plus!

So along with the initial cost of buying an ereader I will have spent a fair bit more, but then I have read an awful lot more books, so everyone's a winner as far as I'm concerned.

[Joykins]

I haven't kept good enough records since I started doing this, but my general sense is that while my per-book costs have definitely gone down, the number of books purchased has gone way up. I DO know my overall spending has gone up since it goes to a credit card. I also don't check as many hardcopy books out of the library anymore (there are tighter limits on the number of ebooks you can check out of the library (4-10); I've had upwards of 40 hardcopy books from the library out at the same time).