Quote:
Originally Posted by daffy4u
But it takes about 60 sec to convert it to your format of choice. If one is willing to spend the time searching for the best deal and that particular best deal is a Mobi book, is it not worth the time to convert it?  |
That depends on how you value your time. I typically buy 20 or more books at a time from Fictionwise. I'll discount part of the time it takes me to select them because I typically have 50 or more on my wish list. But part of the selection process is determining my 'buying strategy' too. That is, which should I purchase with CC vs which should I purchase with MP to get the best overall deal. I haven't actually measured that, but I'll assume it takes me an additional 15 minutes 'gaming' different selections to see which give the best deals.
So that's an extra 15 minutes, then there's the extra 20 minutes to strip the DRM & convert them. That's over a half-hour of my time that I wouldn't need to spend if I bought from Amazon. (Assuming I was willing to keep the DRM.)
I'm typically busy enough that I'd rather spend an extra $30 than 'waste' that half-hour. OTOH I do 'waste' it because 1) I don't have a Kindle and 2) even if I did I still wouldn't like Amazon managing my reading list.
Basically, I've preferred MOBI format as that allows me to modify titles, authors, and the synopsis, all of which I find essential to managing my library. I also strip the DRM before I archive the books. (I've also added cover images but that takes considerably longer so I haven't done it consistently.) Lately I've been converting my archives to ePub, but the basics are the same-it's just the output that differs.
So I go thru the extra 20 minutes to strip the DRM for my own reasons but that doesn't detract from the fact that the Kindle fanatics have a point. One of the things I detest about US (and possibly international) society today is the focus on getting the lowest price, regardless of what you've got to do to get it. I'll sometimes shop at a store that charges slightly more if it provides a significantly better shopping experience than the lowest-priced store. And sometimes I won't-it depends on several factors, including what I feel like putting up with at that time.
But that's the point I'd like to make about the Kindle 'fanatics'. Maybe they're focusing on the shopping experience, which sounds like it's much better at Amazon than at FW. (On re-reading I see that that's not quite right either, but don't know how to say it better. If they ignore 'getting the best deal' from FW then I'm sure the shopping experience is at least as pleasant as at Amazon, but then Amazon has the better prices. So it ends up being a question of how important it is, to you, to get the best possible price.)