Quote:
Originally Posted by Penforhire
It is a paradigm shift. I like owning books myself but I can see the possibility. If I have near-instant whispernet access to the same books (big if), how is it different than owning the e-books?
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Cost?
I allocate about US$20/month for new books. If I could access the entire Amazon inventory (or everything except periodicals and textbooks, even), for that price, I think I could learn to live without owning the books. (I'd still occasionally buy p-books of favorites.) Amazon doesn't have enough of the content in ebook format yet, but that could change.
Question is, would that be a good deal for Amazon? In my case, I might end up reading more than $20/mo worth of content, but lots of people wouldn't. I don't know what the price would have to be to even out costs vs. revenue. Amazon doesn't get all of my book budget now, and that's probably true of lots of people, due to the "instant gratification" factor of being able to just buy a book in a store and read it right away. But Whispernet could change that.
I'm not ready to switch yet. As I said, Amazon still doesn't have the inventory I'd want (and they don't have a "buffet" plan, either). But I'd consider it if those conditions were met.