Thinking of buying an e reader

[bam451]

I'm really interested in buying the Kindle 2. I've researched a little bit and I really love the dictionary function. The only thing that's holding me up is that I know I won't be able to check out books from a library. All the books I want to read I'll have to purchse, right?!? I know these e books are cheaper but that does add up. Can you sell a e book after purchasing it? Just curious. I've never really checked books out from the library, but I do buy from Amazon and then resell.

[Logseman]

The agency pricing model, of which you'll find information in the upper forums, is being a pain in the arse as it usually, not always, means a rise of prices which people are resenting. Ebooks can't be resold.

However, you're not forced to only purchase books. You can add books from your own HDD. In Amazon's Kindle it works through their Whispernet, and if I recall correctly it has a per-book cost to reformat books so that they're readable with it.

Other readers don't have such constraints towards what you can put inside the device or you can read. I advise you to stroll around the other threads in this forum, and through MobileRead in general, because it is an unvaluable source of information.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by Logseman

However, you're not forced to only purchase books. You can add books from your own HDD. In Amazon's Kindle it works through their Whispernet, and if I recall correctly it has a per-book cost to reformat books so that they're readable with it.

This is not entirely accurate. You can load books via the USB connection onto the Kindle, exactly as you can with any other device. The Kindle will read any DRM-free Mobipocket format book.

[wallcraft]

Originally Posted by bam451

The only thing that's holding me up is that I know I won't be able to check out books from a library. All the books I want to read I'll have to purchse, right?!? I know these e books are cheaper but that does add up. Can you sell a e book after purchasing it?

It is possible to read lending library ebooks in the MOBI format on the Kindle, see Thinking of getting a Kindle, Can I really get library books for it? The number of ebooks available depends on where you live, and PDF/ePub lending library ebooks are not directly usable - unless you strip their DRM (as discussed in the referenced thread).

You can't sell purchased ebooks. Amazon could setup a resale site, because they can delete the original from your devices when it is sold, but they have not done so - probably because of the potential for publishers to strongly object.