Quote:
Originally Posted by binaryhermit
Even if Overdrive went out of business, how would that put your kindle in the grave, presumably Amazon would still sell ebooks, Kindle Unlimited would still be a thing, and so would sideloading.
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It would put my Kindle in the grave because I am not willing to pay the high prices they charge to buy an eBook. Others may not think that they are overpriced, but I do, and when it's my money, my opinion is the only one that counts. And KU, at $9.99 per month, would cost me close to $15 per book since I am not a fast reader (6 weeks per book is not unusual). The books you find on KU can alternately be bought outright at reasonable prices. But I have found KU offerings are really hit or miss. Some are worth reading, but there are a whole bunch that are not. This is the main reason why I jump on every "99 cents for 3 months" KU promotion I can, and check out an average of one book per day. I do not read all these books (being a slow reader), but I sample enough of their content to build up a list of worthwhile ones. So if in the future I
do have to start buying KU books outright, I have a list of (hopefully) good purchases.
I really like library borrowing (thus Overdrive by association). The one problem with library borrowing is the typical 21 day limit per book, but I have found that by joining multiple libraries in my area that I can generally check out a book from one and if I'm reading at my normal slowness, have a fallback copy on hold at a different library. The fallback copy then gets checked out if I fail to finish the book within the 21 day period. If push comes to shove, I can always put my Kindle into airplane mode until I finish the borrowed book. The book stays on the Kindle until internet connectivity is restored, despite the advertised maximum lending duration. My Kindle is normally in airplane mode most all the time now anyway.
If library borrowing goes away (e.g., if Overdrive goes away), then I would go back to buying used paperbacks to save money instead of spending so much to buy eBooks for my Kindle. To be perfectly honest, I have enough books in my "to be read" collection - both paper books and eBooks - to last the rest of my life. So while I wouldn't like it, I could survive without ever buying or borrowing another book.