Quote:
Originally Posted by Sonist
Oh, excuse me, I must be an ignorant idiot, who thinks that spending $350 on a reading device on which you can read free classics, is no different, than spending $300 on a music-playing device, for which you actually have to BUY music (unless in your neighborhood you just steal it.)
Again, it all comes down to different priorities.
(Keep your iPod well-hidden, since it sounds like in your neighborhood, it may be much more desirable, than an e-reader. And just as unaffordable for most of your neighbors.)
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The problem was the way you phrased it. You said $350 is a lot of money and that people regularly spent that on dinner with friends. Yeah maybe in the upper class!
$350 is a lot of money for a music player. It's a lot of money for an ereader. And it's a ridiculous amount for a meal (most will never pay that much for a meal--maybe with a group of friends splitting the cost but not totally out of their pockets).
$350 is a lot of money to most people, especially in today's economy. So you came across as pompous by saying it wasn't.
Yeah I don't think it's any more outrageous to spend $350 on an ebook than it is that much on an mp3 player. Which is a better "value" just depends on what people enjoy more. And reading is far below things like music, movies, tv, video games etc. to the majority of people in today's culture.
To an avid reader like you it's a bargain, just like the iPod is a bargain to the music buff who loves having their 1000s and 1000s of songs with them everywhere they go. So I agree with you there. But still $350 is a lot of money for other device--and personal interest will determine if you'd spend that much for either.
Personally I wouldn't for either. I've never spent more than $150 for an mp3 player and got my Kindle 1 used for $200. On the other had I had no qualms dropping $1,000 on my TV and will spend more on an even nicer model sometime down the road. So it's not just money it is definitely priority as you say. My free time mostly goes to a combination of movies, tv, sports and video games so the TV is the most "important" gadget for me.
So the point of this rambling is I see where you're coming from but it's pompous to say that $350 isn't a lot of money. It is. You were trying to say an ereader isn't more "overpriced" than an mp3 player and other gadgets. And that's fair, you should have just said that rather than saying it isn't a lot of money period.