Quote:
Originally Posted by issybird
I think ereaders (the people, not the devices) of the voracious type have been very slow to adapt their buying/hoarding habits to the new reality*. Back in the paper day, you needed a backlog, so you always had something to read on hand. There also was the factor that you had to pick something up when you saw it, as it might not be available later**. Both of these factors have been largely obviated by digital books so there's no reason to have a huge virtual stack of unread books, but old habits die hard, as they say. Huge sales (Kobo!) were also a factor, but much less so now; there's especially little reason to cross platforms.
Yeah, I know, rereading. To the extent you do, it would make some difference, but that's when platform matters. And after the huge shakeout, I don't think anyone's library is at a big risk with Kindle or Kobo or Google. (I can hear it now, "I wouldn't trust any seller to keep my books." My own reaction is, "That was then; this is now.")
I guess my personal bottom line is that I can't see myself not being able to find books to read. Even if Kobo and Kindle simultaneously went belly up overnight, I'd dust myself off and make a quick side trip to OverDrive or Project Gutenberg while I regrouped. Curating a large elibrary seems less and less worth the effort to me, compared to the benefits of on-demand reading. And I suspect most who have large elibraries are still in the red when it comes to money spent, as compared to what they'd have spent on each book purchased at market price when read.
*I include myself.
**Yes, some digital books cease to be available, but it's not a significant factor.
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I would say that a lot of that is driven by the type of books you like to read and if you re-read books. I will certainly admit that I don't belong to that vast majority of readers who are happy buying and reading one book at a time and then never looking at that book again. I would also say that I don't belong to the group of people who would be happy just reading PG books. I read a lot, I buy a lot, I re-read a lot and with the exception of some classics, most of what I read is not in PD and likely will not be in PD during my lifetime even if I do live another 40 years.
One of the first ebooks that I bought was The Complete Enchanter by Pratt and deCamp from Peanut Press on my palm pilot. When they went belly up, I lost access to that ebook and it was well over a decade before the book made it back to ebook. I have way too many books that are favorites where the author is now dead, but the books are not in PD.
You say that was then, but this is now and certainly Amazon isn't likely to go belly up, but I actually have quite a few ebooks that I've purchased that are no longer available for purchase and several that are no longer downloadable. Fortunately, I do download and deDRM books as I buy them, so I have them all.
I would say that the vast majority of readers are quite happy with on demand reading and would likely be quite happy with a subscription service as long as it includes the NYT best seller list books. Of course, that the rub with subscription services. They typically don't include current NYT best sellers.