Latest Economy and Ebook sector

[ProDigit]

Do you think the Economy is affecting the ebook sector lately?
The Ebook sector is (at least was) a growing sector; you think it'll survive the economic hardships ahead?

Feel free to elaborate on the relationship between the economy today and the ebooks sector (like online ebook stores, developement, your own experience in buying more/less ebooks lately, etc...).

Ofcourse everything is affected by the economy, but relatively small or big compared to last year?... is it better or worse today?

[lilac_jive]

I don't think it is as affected. During rough times like this, people tend to read more (that whole escapism thing).

[Wetdogeared]

I think it is affected. I, myself, have browsed the eBook section at my local/provincial library and found that most of the titles that interest me are checked out, and I need to go on a waiting list. I'm not sure if this is because there are more eBook readers out there, or people are looking for a free good read.

I was looking for a free good read.

The formats I wanted and the titles I wanted were all checked out.

[Steven Lyle Jordan]

I don't think the current economic woes have influenced the e-book industry... yet. There are few entities that have had the time to act in the e-book arena that weren't already there... and little has changed with the entities that are already there.

I expect to see serious changes in the next few years, though, primarily with increased amounts of content (like newspapers) that are becoming or are already too uneconomical to print.

Unfortunately, I also see unrest, as we still have the problem of multiple formats, incompatible readers and DRM, and little progress to standardize the first or second or ditch the last.

Eventually, I expect standardization of formats and full device compatibility to be the norm. But we'll likely go through another 5-10 years before we see that. And in the meantime, new players will just continue to muddy up the waters.

Hey, you asked.

[ProDigit]

perhaps jobless people tend to read more? (learn / stay updated,or have more free time)?

[GeoffC]

it's alright as long as one has the wherewithall with which to purchase said e-books...

[YGG-]

Originally Posted by ProDigit

perhaps jobless people tend to read more? (learn / stay updated,or have more free time)?

I bought my CyBook for 280 euros; a used paperback sells for 3 or 4 euros [in Paris] so... I could buy myself 80 books with the price of an e-reader...
[Last time I checked, the Sony 505 costed about 350 euros]

[ProDigit]

Originally Posted by YGG-

I bought my CyBook for 280 euros; a used paperback sells for 3 or 4 euros [in Paris] so... I could buy myself 80 books with the price of an e-reader...
[Last time I checked, the Sony 505 costed about 350 euros]

Now you can get them for $275; and less then $250 if you search for it.
There are also enough free books to read, downloadable from this site and others like gutenberg.
Nomatter how little you pay for paperback, nothing's going to beat FREE EBOOKS (aka Freebooks).

[YGG-]

Originally Posted by ProDigit

Now you can get them for $275; and less then $250 if you search for it.[...]Nomatter how little you pay for paperback, nothing's going to beat FREE EBOOKS (aka Freebooks).

Got your point, & if you're jobless, you may not feel like shelling out (even) $250 on an e-reader? Who knows.

[ProDigit]

maybe so.Then just spend a week on bread and water and save the money you'd spend on rich food or going out, to buy one! (I've done similar in the past for other gear).
In the long term you're benefiting from it; it's like BUY BIG when you go shopping.
I'm not an avid reader; just an occasional reader, but on a timespan of 3 to 4 years I easily topple 80 books.

Many on the forum read more then 80 books per year,some even close to 10 books per month!

If you don't have the money to purchase a reader, but do have the money to buy (or rent)a large house hosting a closet or two to books something is off...

Besides you can't guarantee all books you buy are $3 or $4. There'll be times your books will cost you $7 or perhaps $15, regardless. Unless you only set yourself to buy 3 to $4 books, but you might get disappointed in the gamma you can buy.
An ebook reader only adds to that gamma.

It's all about handling money. Those who can't get to save $250 in a couple of months,and have no legit reason (like newborn babies, being handicapped or having a family member that's in need of lots of medical treatment, just lost a job, or paying back of emergency loans (not the mortgage on the house or car),or something in the likes of being serious) are seriously living wrong!
It shows there's something deeper that's wrong.

Every regular person should be able to save 250 in a couple of months time, or should at least have the sense to save up for things like this (or other gadgets,whatever one wants to save up for) in a longer period of time ; though I can understand with the current economy not many are prioritizing an ebook reader,or even understand the importance on prioritizing one, that if one reads books lots, in the long run one benefits financially from buying one!

If you plan on buying many books anyways,I'd recommend to do the stretch,and buy yourself one that's cheap (the Sony PRS reader),and allows you to read free ebooks (like books that can be downloaded from this site).

[zelda_pinwheel]

ProDigit, you seem to be forgetting that when you are on a really tight budget for any reason (unemployed, or part-time employed, or just lousy job with bad pay), any kind of electronic gadget is a *luxury* which you might not be able to justify including in your budget, particularly if you might have unexpected expenses like something to repair or something vital to replace (maybe you save up 250€ but then your refrigerator breaks...).

if i am on a budget, even IF i can manage to save up 250€ over a few months (and in the past, there have been times when that would not have been possible for me, because i didn't earn enough money ; like when i was a student and working part time to pay rent etc.), i still would not be able to justify spending that money on a luxury item, especially since if i want to read for free, i can go to my municipal library, as i did for many many years. a liseuse is a really nice gadget and i am very happy to have one now, and i'm happy to save space and read the books i can get for free, but i'm not going to pretend that buying it actually saved me money ; if you take into account my previous habits (a lot of library books and a lot of cheap used books) it definitely did *not* save me money. i have many reasons for wanting one but "economy" is not on the list.

[ProDigit]

Well, a when you're a student you don't have income and it can be seen as 'lost a job'; besides if you have a library available it makes sense not to buy an ebook reader.

If you're on a bad payed job and any kind of electronic toy seems luxury, but you still buy books, means you'll be spending lots more in the long run... That's all I'm trying to say.
Perhaps you don't have much left every month because you chose to have a livingstandard that did not allow you to buy anything extra (eg: have an income of 1200, and live on a 1000 rent appartement).
It would be wise to step down to a smaller space, and save say $100 on rent which can be directed to all kinds of gadgets and toys,or just extra saving for the future.

What would you do if in such case you get sick and miss out a couple of days of work?
Lose your home due to not being able to pay rent?

[pcmedic]

I think that the sales of the units may be suffering because of the price and people wanting to conserve cash, but I would think that the sale of eBooks themselves would go up for people that already own the device. We all want an escape during bad times, and the books are priced cheaper than a physical book.

David S.

[zelda_pinwheel]

Originally Posted by ProDigit

Well, a when you're a student you don't have income and it can be seen as 'lost a job'; besides if you have a library available it makes sense not to buy an ebook reader.

If you're on a bad payed job and any kind of electronic toy seems luxury, but you still buy books, means you'll be spending lots more in the long run... That's all I'm trying to say.
Perhaps you don't have much left every month because you chose to have a livingstandard that did not allow you to buy anything extra (eg: have an income of 1200, and live on a 1000 rent appartement).
It would be wise to step down to a smaller space, and save say $100 on rent which can be directed to all kinds of gadgets and toys,or just extra saving for the future.

What would you do if in such case you get sick and miss out a couple of days of work?
Lose your home due to not being able to pay rent?

i see your point, and some of the things you say are reasonable (like trying to live within your means) but wow, you seem completely disconnected from reality. listening to you, all poor people are poor only because they choose to have a badly paid job, or are maybe too stupid or short-sighted to realise that if they want more money they should get a better job. there are a lot of people who don't have much money, certainly not enough to buy expensive gadgets they don't need, but through no fault of their own. i guess you must be pretty lucky though to have plenty of money and never have to deprive yourself of a gadget or other luxury you want because you can't afford it. i wish i never had to worry about my budget.

[ProDigit]

Well honestly I am to date 9months unemployed, and consider myself a victim of a fault not my own; with zero income, due to reasons, and my wife earns the only income of the house (1200/month).
If it was upto me, I'd gone through this phase of my life with 2 months of unemployment and 9000$ of my savings, which someone stole.
There's a lot of my life you don't know,so suggesting I'm a rich 'prick' is not really a good thing. I bet there are many people I'dlove to switch with financially speaking now (also a lot I don't want to switch with).
My wife also has a $12.000 school mortgage on her head..,so I'm not considering myself rich at all!

I wanted this device so badly (since we have had times where the electricity bill was not payed in time; not really our fault, but another person we're sharing the house with didn't pay her part), and it took us 3 months to save up for it, but I have it!

When we had no electricity for a couple of days, me not really being able to do much of anything in the house (since the laptop only has 6 hours charge), thought this reader could keep me busy, and it did!
Costed me 275 on ebay, and not really much for the 26 books I've converted, and the tens of books I downloaded here.
It also proves to be a great device when going out to the grand parents (in law) for a weekend (who have no internet),or perhaps even when going camping and facing a rainy day (one can read inside their tent).

So,me, rich? I don't think so.
I just prefer paying more in the beginning for an expensive device, and benefiting from it 'the rest of my life' (or how long the device lives), then having to pay more on regular books. And it's just a hard pit one needs to be willing to swallow.

Like mentioned above,if you have a regular income and are not in some sort of emergency situation where something happened,then you should find yourself in a situation where a $250 device should easily become a reality in a couple of months.
Just look at how many mini notebooks have been sold in the past year or two!
And they cost much more!

It's all about priorities, you really want it? you can have it, especially in USA; and Europe! I'm not saying it'll go for free by itself.
This gadget has deprived me of other pleasures (like eating out at Taco Bell, Burger King or Mc Donalds, going to parties, buying more luxurious foods, or buying a new videocard for my PC....). And yes, I live in a shared house, and we have no more then one bedroom,kitchen and bathroom. We could easily afford a 2 bedroom place, with nothing else as extra.

I think by many that my financial situation is pretty awful compared to a regular person,yet I have a reader because I really wanted one!