Quote:
Originally Posted by LDBoblo
Or you could have read those public domain books on your pre-existing computer or phone or other device without additional expense.
Thinking of the device as something that "pays for itself" is flawed, and probably should be avoided.
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Why would I want to read on a phone? My computer isn't set up for reading in bed or on a train on a bus in the rain in box with a fox here or there or anywhere that's not sitting at my desk. So if I were want to read Jane Austin or Mark Twain or Edgar Rice Burroughs somewhere other than at the desk my computer lives on I could buy a dead tree version, I could buy a kindle (which I did), I could buy a PDA since I don't own one at this time, I could use a netbook and drain the battery like hell, I could try reading on my ipod but I imagine that would suck as hard as a phone or pda.
The kindle worked out cheaper than dead tree versions and gave me the bonus of paying for a device which I in theory though amazon probably disagrees, own and not paying for public domain works which already belong to me as a member of the human race.
I'm not saying buying dead tree public domain stuff is wrong, someone printed them up and put them in stores so they could be read without resorting to an electronic device and if they make a buck good for them it isn't as if I couldn't do the same thing if I wanted to lay out the capital. I'm saying between the options that suited me the kindle was the cheaper.
Paying more upfront to pay less down the road is valid.