Second thoughts about my pre-ordered Kindle - physical books are so much cheaper

[krunk]

Originally Posted by CSM-101

If I buy a Kindle 3 I have to pay at least $9.99 each for the same books in digital format.

The price of books are highly variable. Some of the recently released technical books can be up to 40 dollars. On the flip side, I've picked up classics for less than a dollar.

[GreenMonkey]

I don't buy commercial books with mine...just for freebies, occasional text files, and free copyright-expired books. Worth it to me.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by krunk

The price of books are highly variable. Some of the recently released technical books can be up to 40 dollars. On the flip side, I've picked up classics for less than a dollar.

You can get classics right here at MR absolutely free. And they'll generally be a lot better formatted than the majority of those sold in commercial eBook stores.

[robins777]

I have recently ordered the new Kindle mainly to read the many free/public domain ebooks books which I read on and Archos 5 at the moment.

While waiting for it to be dispatched I have been looking at the prices of ebooks books here in the UK and was suprised to find that in most cases I can buy the paperback version of book cheaper than the electronic version and in some cases as much as 80% cheaper.

I have quite a large collection of books filling several bookcases and even when the Kindle arrives I will still go on buying books mainly because of the cost of the ebooks. Of the books I have bought recently not one has cost over £4 and many a lot less. Only last month I have bought 4 sets of books comprising of 10 book per set for a total of £40 inc delivery. One set of 10 books by Helen Dunmore would have cost £53.66 if I had bought the ebook version from Amazon.

As more and more people buy ebook readers I hope the price of the ebooks themselves will drop to a more realistic level.

[MangaEbooker]

They should be much cheaper, I mean it cost nothing to make really, should deduct material cost.

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by robins777

Only last month I have bought 4 sets of books comprising of 10 book per set for a total of £40 inc delivery. One set of 10 books by Helen Dunmore would have cost £53.66 if I had bought the ebook version from Amazon.

Ten Helen Dunmore books from Amazon for under £40? Were these second-hand books by any chance? I could only find one new book for less than £4.

I don't expect ebooks will ever come in at less than second-hand prices, but I've been pleasantly surprised to see that Amazon's UK prices always seem to beat the new paper book prices.

E.g., her latest, The Betrayal is £9.47 as an ebook, but £11.39 in hardback.

[robins777]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

Ten Helen Dunmore books from Amazon for under £40? Were these second-hand books by any chance? I could only find one new book for less than £4.

I don't expect ebooks will ever come in at less than second-hand prices, but I've been pleasantly surprised to see that Amazon's UK prices always seem to beat the new paper book prices.

E.g., her latest, The Betrayal is £9.47 as an ebook, but £11.39 in hardback.

The 10 books by Helen Dunmore I mentioned were not from Amazon but from a UK website "thebookpeople.co.uk" they cost £10 and included:
Mourning Ruby
House of Orphans
Counting the Stars
Burning Bright
A Spell of Winter
The Siege
Zennor in Darkness
Talking to the Dead
With Your Cooked Heart
Your Blue Eyed Boy

They have at least 10 other collections of 10 book for £10 and free delivery over £25 order so if you live in the UK then they are well worth a look.

[basschick]

where i am, there are 85 free ebooks on amazon, some of which are best sellers. periodically they rotate a few out and add a few more. why not check amazon and see if the free ebooks are available where you are? that should help offset the price, along with free classics and free books from authors and publishers giveaways.

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by robins777

The 10 books by Helen Dunmore I mentioned were not from Amazon but from a UK website "thebookpeople.co.uk" they cost £10.

[...]

They have at least 10 other collections of 10 book for £10 and free delivery over £25 order so if you live in the UK then they are well worth a look.

They do look interesting for paper books. The individual books just look like they're heavily discounted bestsellers.

I can't see how they can do the sets of ten books for £10 unless they're remaindered stock. But I don't know that that's the case, I just can't see how they could do those prices otherwise.

It's certainly true that ebooks aren't generally available at such high discounts, at least, not since the agency agreements took effect.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

It's certainly true that ebooks aren't generally available at such high discounts, at least, not since the agency agreements took effect.

But there is no agency agreement in the UK; my understanding is that it would be illegal under UK consumer law. That's why, for example, prices for UK customers in the Kindle bookstore are very often considerably lower than they are for US customers.