Misery loves company.
Forgot to mention my pBooks include 1 hardcover, 15 trade paperback that weren't available in mass market paperback, and all the rest MMPB. Over the past 10 years I exerted considerable self-discipline to standardize on MMPB format in every case possible, often waiting faithfully for a year for the MMPB to be released, and also often buying MMPBs and trashing previously purchased books of the same title in various flavors of hardcover or trade. It pleased me, the look of those tidy same-sized MMPBs lined up like soldiers standing inspection prior to action. And the density of books per inch of shelfspace was maximized.
@Anthem. Oh "obsessive" collegial "wreck" with whimsical psyche, re Jasper's scroll, lol. Exactly the point.
@CWatkinsNash. Yes, "my OCD." One of the first things I did was buy eBooks to replace the obnoxious looking HCs and Trades, where available. And yes, wanting to read the "backstock" in eBook form. Even if we were rich, as you said, they're probably not all available.
@wvcherrybomb. Does "making my own eBooks" entail taking books to the nearest old-fashioned print-shop, using their industrial cutter to chop off their spines, buying a sophisticated scanner with autofeed attachments as well as the best OCR available, converting the output to html then reconverting to ePub then cleaning it up? Or alternatively, rekeying all the text of the book manually, which might require less time for an experienced typist? All the ways I can imagine are more time-expensive than paying an average 10.00USD or less if eBook is available. If not available, that is a solution. Particularly if someone offered a "make eBook from scratch" service, produced high quality, priced them cheaply enough.
@Ravensknight. "Darknet" reminds me of a lusty old victorian gentleman going to a house of ill repute and getting a "social" disease. Regardless of the moral issue there is a health consequences issue particularly in modern times where auto-immune-system eDiseases abound. To me reading a book is an intimate thing. Prior to its posting on darknet, any eBook pimp or slave-eBook supplier could have spiked that poor, abused eBook with any number of malevolent things capable of slinking by the anti-malware guards standing watch at my door. But the temptation, the temptation….
@ATDrake. The "mistakenly nostalgic hunt to buy and try them again" distinctly resonates, I've done that countless times, then trashed them again. I like the wait and buy on sale strategy in theory but in practice that adds another layer of complexity to the buying process, specifically in regard to filling in missing series members. Young whippersnappers may have the patience for that but I'm getting on in years and therefore relatively impatient.
You all hearten me considerably. I am not lost and forlorn all alone. There are fellow sufferers out there. Like listening to the blues, your suffering makes me feel better.
I figure this is the closest we'll get to an eBookers Anonymous meeting.