Quote:
Originally Posted by conan50
I hate to say it as a book lover, but books are losing value for many people. I see a similar thing happening with music.
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If something is digital, many people immediately seem to think that it has to be very cheap or even for free. They were happy paying €50 for a retail game or €10 for a paperback book in 2000, but they balk at paying €45 for a digitally distributed game or €7 for an ebook.
"It's too expensive."
Hell no. It's gotten cheaper, even though prices have been inflated greatly in the last 15 years, making it cheaper still.
But honestly, I see the value degradation in my own library. Before 2011, when I got my Touch (I tried a Cybook in 2007, but the ebook market was too young then, at least for me), I would consider each book carefully, especially if it was the first in a (long) series. Price and required space caused me to be selective.
Now? Using Kobo codes, I buy entire series on a whim because they look good and get good reviews, and I download classics for free or next to nothing (50+ Delphi books here). I have almost 800 books in my library now, counting the Delphi's as one book each, while they can contain 15 or 20 novels.
15 years ago, such a library would have cost me at least €8.000, and an entire room. Now, I'd be very surprised if I spent more than €800 (10%). I think it would be closer to €500. Also, it costs me 5GB on a 1000GB disk (0.5%), and no physical space.
Nowadays, a book (e-book) is just a cheap consumable, even more so than the shabbiest paperback ever was. Buying e-books is so fast and cheap that getting and returning books at the library for free is actually more expensive in transportation costs. For the cost of one trip to and back from the library to go and get the paper book (if they have it), I can BUY the e-book... twice.