Hard copy vs EBOOK

[troymc]

Originally Posted by rabbie

Why are we using ebooks at all when we can generate £2-£3 per book for charity when we have finished with our hard copy books.?? I donate all my books to the British Heart Foundation who then sell them for the above sum. They are the purchased and read by someone who hopefully takes them back so that they can be sold again. You cannot do this with ebooks so therefore we should bin all the ebook readers and get back to print. The fact that a lot of ebooks are the same price or more expensive than the printed copy only makes this argument more vaid

Comments please!!

As you might can tell from the other comments here, your original statement is a little short-sighted.

The problem is, as you said "You cannot do this with ebooks". Your seemingly short-sighted solution to this problem then is to get rid of ebooks. My solution would be to fix the problem - remove the artificial limitation on selling/giving ebooks. If my local library was setup to accept ebook donations they would be well on their way to having one of the largest philosophy/history ebooks libraries around. As it is, my niece will inherit a very nice ebook library with thousands of volumes (I remember when things used to have value and were passed down through the generations. I hope she finds some value in it.)

As for the donation aspect, I personally donated 90% of my pbooks to the local library when I converted to ebooks. I didn't have the room for them anymore, and only kept the classic valuable editions (eg. my leather-bound, 17 volume Arabian Nights.)

BTW, some overdrive capable libraries *are* capable of receiving ebooks bought for them now (search these forums if interested,) so your original point is nearly moot. Unfortunately my local library is not one of them.


Troy

[Worldwalker]

No kidding. Who pays US $3-$4.50 for a used book at a charity sale? I don't think I've ever seen them priced at even half that.

If I buy ebooks, the author gets paid, my shelves (and floor joists!) aren't under any additional strain and there's no need for trees, land-clearing, ink, trucks to haul them around in, etc. I buy pbooks that are less expensive than pbooks (from Baen, for instance). Since I'm spending less on books, I have more money available to donate to my regular charities. Or Calibre.

[RAScully]

Ebooks are very nice in that they are clutter free, cheaper to purchase, on average, with no shipping, a virtual library within you hand. It has opened the door to a lot of Indie Authors with zero cost to produce except for your time. I like them, but there is something an ebook just cannot ever do for me. I love to hold that thick hardcover book, especially when it is my own, it`s magical to me. I can`t explain it other than that.

[Fbone]

Originally Posted by Worldwalker

He's British; he means "bin", as in "throw in the dustbin", the way an American would say to "trash" something.

As the saying goes, "We're American. We don't speak English."

[J. Strnad]

I think the poster's right! We should all get rid of our ebooks and ereaders and go back to print books! We should get rid of our iPods and MP3 players, too, because otherwise we'd be donating old CDs and LPs to thrift shops! And our DVRs...we have to dump them before it's too late! Think of all the VHS tapes we aren't donating to charity anymore!

(What's the emoticon for sarcasm, anyway?)

[gollu]

I don't think there's a problem at all. If one wants to buy regular books, he'll do it. If the same person wants to donate them to charity, my respect for the guy will be even higher. We live in a free world(more or less) and we can do as our conscience guides as.
So, rabbie do whatever you like doing and let the others decide for themselves.

[nursedude]

I think that eBooks are better...no trees killed to make paper, no toxins from the inks, no transportation costs or packaging to recycle...

My carbon footprint is lower because I don't have to drive to the bookstore (miles away) and spend valuable time browsing the shelves, picking out my purchase and then driving back home. I save wear and tear on the car and gas money.

I can purchase my ebook at home w/o using anything more than a few cents worth of electricity. After I've read the book I can delete it or save it for future reading without having to dust it or find room on an already crowded set of bookshelves.

I will buy the Hard cover or paperback ONLY if there is no eBook available and then I usually donate it to the library so others can enjoy.

Just my $.02

[banjobama]

Why not, instead of spending money on a normal priced paperback book, give that money to charity? Then read a free book from manybooks.net on your ebook reader. The charity gets more money than they would have gotten from a used book sale, you get a book for free you can keep, and one less paper book is floating around. Problem solved.

[Logseman]

I'd rather bin charities instead, thank you.

[ColdSun]

1. Save a tree
2. Less clutter
3. Read in bed with no light
4. Take reading everywhere without need for carrying multiple books
5. Why am I bothering answering this question in the premier ebook reading forum on the internet?

You can continue to donate your books to charity. I wonder though, would the charity prefer a nice check I write that they can spend in the exact way they need in order to satisfy the chartity's goals or would they rather have some old book laying around that someone may or may not read? I'm sure the charity is happy to receive just about anything - your books or my money. I'm certainly not going to throw away my ebook reading device just so I can give books to a charity though. When you posted this, did you even consider how silly that would sound? Or how silly it is on a forum dedicated to people who love mobile reading devices?

P.S. This post has given me a good idea. I'm going to dedicate one of my devices to a charity and load it with a ton of freely available books. They can then lend out the device to those in need and people can read thousands of free books. It will save the charity money because they don't have to pay to store the old books and they can share thousands of classics with people who are in need and want to learn.

[Shaggy]

Originally Posted by rabbie

Why are we using ebooks at all when we can generate £2-£3 per book for charity when we have finished with our hard copy books.?? I donate all my books to the British Heart Foundation who then sell them for the above sum. They are the purchased and read by someone who hopefully takes them back so that they can be sold again. You cannot do this with ebooks so therefore we should bin all the ebook readers and get back to print. The fact that a lot of ebooks are the same price or more expensive than the printed copy only makes this argument more vaid

Comments please!!

Legally, you should be able to donate an eBook just as you can a hard copy. What prevents it is DRM.

So, we can say that DRM is stealing money from charity!

[dickon25]

This is an interesting thread if only to highlight the differences between charity shops in the UK and elsewhere. Here (UK) there is a strong tradition of giving used books to charity shops, which are on every high street. Oxfam even has 'book only' shops which do a roaring trade and have hastened the demise of the independent second-hand book shops - the charities get local tax breaks so their shops have lower overheads; the others cannot compete and have steadily disappeared. A used paperback will sell for about £2/£3; they are also an excellent source for used textbooks and history books etc. Until I got my Sony I was a regular customer - buy it, read it and donate it back (for fiction, anyway) - the charity prospers and I got to read good, clean books for a fraction of their cost new.
Clearly, this operation is not widespread in the States or in the rest of Europe ??

[some call me tim]

Originally Posted by dickon25

Clearly, this operation is not widespread in the States or in the rest of Europe ??

Not so widespread in the States, no. We have thrift shops here that usually have a section of books, but the selection usually that great--mostly old, yellowed mass markets, or Reader's Digest condensed books. So yeah, you might have a lucky find now and then, but you can't ever go in expecting to score something good. I like the sound of the way things work in the UK, though. I imagine on whole, you guys are more literary than we are and therefore have better selections.

Anyway, I don't think the OP was entirely serious about his stance, but rather was stimulating discussion. The charity thing may be a concern, but the real disadvantage of ebooks for me is the very real potential of closing down b&m bookstores. B&m's already have taken a hit with the rise of Amazon, but at least there was an appeal for people to be able to still go to a bookstore to browse the shelves. If ebooks take off (and I think they will), there will be less and less reason for people to go out to b&m stores. I usually don't like shopping at all, but I've always enjoyed going to bookstores, they've always given me a sense of comfort and solace (I'm sure most here can relate.) The big corporate stores like Borders and Barnes & Noble might still be able to hold out since they sell ebooks as well, but indie stores (already struggling to compete) might just get drowned out. Just look at the demise of b&m record shops since the advent of mp3s. They still exist, but they're not nearly as prolific as they used to be.

[Shaggy]

Originally Posted by some call me tim

If ebooks take off (and I think they will), there will be less and less reason for people to go out to b&m stores.

Is that necessarily a bad thing?

If it gets to the point where the majority of people prefer eBooks to physical books, then will we need as many stores that only sell physical books? Seems to be just the nature of supply and demand.

If eBooks take off, then why shouldn't the b&m stores fail?

[some call me tim]

Really? Do you want to see bookstores close? I don't know if I've ever walked into a bookstore and thought "Man, I can't wait to see this place gone." I find bookstores to be different than many other stores because the people that work there are usually motivated by their love of books than the paycheck.