Is the Kindle worth it just for the free books?

[Dr. Drib]

I've bought quite a number of ebooks, and find them to be priced very reasonably.

In addition to that, there are the hundreds of Indie books that are currently free. (Just check out the Freebie Forum for lists, etc.)

I'm very satisfied with the majority of the pricing of the books I've paid for. Of course, this is my opinion. Your opinion or experiences can certainly differ from mine.

I would say the Kindle is definitely worth it just for the free books. In the past 2 weeks alone, I've added over 400 free Indie titles to my TBR list!



Don

[DuskyRose]

I don't know where the Op's posting from, but in the US there's the ability to borrow kindle books from Overdrive, and the lending web sites that help list books people can loan out personally.

And I've found that since about three weeks before Christmas, there's been about 300 free ebooks listed on Amazon on average. Every day. I go to the kogrid web site and subscribe for the news letter, but usually just browse with covers on for something that looks good. (Although be warned that the porn is pretty graphic. And probably more of it than anything.)

I've actually had a few wishlisted books show up, and they usually all get listed to the lending sites pretty quickly, since most of lendable.

I've grabbed anywhere from 3 to 80 books in a day, depending on what's on offer. You could easily get years of reading just from the freebies alone.

So, yeah, I thought it was worth an $80 investment even before the Christmas rush.

[catsittingstill]

Different people's takes on what is a reasonable price for an e-book are going to be different. Me, I liked the "(hardback) bestsellers for 10$, trade paperback for a couple of dollars below the paperback price" model that prevailed before the great Conspiracy In Restraint Of Trade Five pushed their idea of fair prices through. But I never expected books to be just a dollar or two.

But anyway, any e-book reader will let you read Mobileread or Manybooks public domain books, which are free (be a little careful in the Kindle store; some people will try to sell you these books for actual money, so check to see if they're available elsewhere for free first.) You don't need a Kindle in particular (though I love mine.)

The Amazon store often has in-copyright books available for free or very low prices to drum up interest, but it's kind of up to chance whether something you want will be available for free *and* you will learn about it in time, so whether that adds value will depend on what you like to read and how much time you are willing to put into finding bargains.

I just got a free book on recent advances in neuro-imaging which I'm really glad to have, though.

[wvcherrybomb]

IMO, yes, the Kindle is worth the price just for free books. If you only downloaded public domain and publisher's free promo books, the Kindle could pay for itself inside of a week.

[Katsunami]

There are many, many classics that I have seen the movie of (some of them have several), and even more classics are on my "to read" list since... forever, but I always get sidetracked by other books. My list now has around 150 "to read"-classics on it.

As almost all of them can be had for free through Amazon, Project Gutenberg or Mobileread, I have decided to buy a Kindle just for them, and see where I'll end up. Buying each book in the Netherlands will cost me around €6 at least, without shipping, so that'd come down to 900 euro's. The Kindle cost me 169 euro's. There you have it: yes, the Kindle is worth it for classics only, -if- you read enough of them.

[carnivroar]

That's great. Only problem now is the French dictionary... I would definitely buy it if wasn't for that.

[Andrew H.]

Originally Posted by carnivroar

Are you kidding me?

http://www.amazon.com/Materials-Tril...ef=pd_sim_b_15
vs
http://www.amazon.com/His-Dark-Mater...=AG56TWVU5XWC2


http://www.amazon.com/Lord-Rings-ebo...7081319&sr=1-1
vs
http://www.amazon.com/Lord-Rings-50t...7081294&sr=1-1

And that's without considering the price for used.

It's not super obvious, but those are pre-order prices. As soon as the Kindle books are actually available, their prices will drop.

[krazy4katz]

Originally Posted by HarryT

Any reason that you didn't download them here at MR? Our versions are often a lot better formatted and proof-read.

Hi Harry,

I love downloading the MR books and thank you very much! One thing I might mention though. Sometimes the title and author are not formatted correctly for alphabetizing on the kindle. Yours seem to be fine, but some of the others have this problem. I have usually corrected this using Calibre, but was wondering if you are ever in touch with the other people who format for MR and could let them know how to format correctly.

As for overpriced kindle books, some of them are, but if you wait, most of them come down to a reasonable price. Like everything else, if you want to buy it the first day it comes out, you will spend more.

Happy reading,

k4k

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by krazy4katz

Hi Harry,

I love downloading the MR books and thank you very much! One thing I might mention though. Sometimes the title and author are not formatted correctly for alphabetizing on the kindle. Yours seem to be fine, but some of the others have this problem. I have usually corrected this using Calibre, but was wondering if you are ever in touch with the other people who format for MR and could let them know how to format correctly.

If you come across such an issue, the best thing to do is to let the uploader know, so that they can correct the problem. Do you mean that the author is specified wrongly in the metadata? "firstname lastname" instead of "lastname, firstname"?

[krazy4katz]

Originally Posted by HarryT

If you come across such an issue, the best thing to do is to let the uploader know, so that they can correct the problem. Do you mean that the author is specified wrongly in the metadata? "firstname lastname" instead of "lastname, firstname"?

For example, I downloaded Tristram Shandy by Laurence Sterne. The title of the ebook shows up as "Sterne_Tristram Shandy" on the kindle. Nothing shows up where the author's name should be. I encounter this rather frequently. Of course it is easily corrected in Calibre, but still...

Thanks,

k4k

[carnivroar]

I decided on the Sony PRS T1. Getting it tomorrow for my birthday. Now... if only I could decide on the color!

[emellaich]

Originally Posted by carnivroar

Kindle books are generally very overpriced, but to make up for that, almost all the Classics are free. Is the Kindle worth it for those alone? I've been thinking of buying a Kindle but only because it's so easy to get free foreign language literature, which is already hard to find in paperback regardless of price.

Well, that's an easy one to answer. It is if you think the Classics and Free Foreign Language Literature are worth $79=>$199 (Depending on model).

I don't read any of that stuff, so it wouldn't help me justify a Kindle. Reading the other responses, I agree with many of the answers and I disagree with many because our tastes are different. Your tastes will be different too.

As Dr. Drib, and others noted its not just classic/foreign books that are free. Hang around the Deals thread to see what else is free on a weekly basis. Lots of good stuff. Especially check out the posts from ATDrake in that thread. As someone else mentioned, check out your library to see what they offer for free.

For books that aren't free, in many (but not all) cases the Kindle books are cheaper than the corresponding paper versions. It depends somewhat on publisher. Check a few of your current books from your reading list to see. If you like independent (self-published) there will definitely be some bargains.

For me, the Kindle is a lot cheaper and has paid back its hardware costs. It might be for you too, but it might not if you like some specialized genre (e.g. People who weave baskets under water and were neutral during the US Civil war ). Since I don't know specifically what your tastes are, only you can tell if your will save money.

Finally, I am a Kindle man myself, but you will find many of these bargains also exist on other readers.

[ndixon]

Originally Posted by HarryT

Any reason that you didn't download them here at MR? Our versions are often a lot better formatted and proof-read.

Oh, I simply hadn't noticed that I could. I tend to come here just for the forums.
And my collection was already there in Calibre so there didn't seem any point downloading additional copies.

I'll take a look at the books here and see how they compare.

Thanks for the tip.

[patrickt]

Originally Posted by fabian5003

Hey! No need to be rude, the guy's just asking a question.

Really? Did he? He lost me with his first statement. "Kindle books are generally very overpriced, but to make up for that, almost all the Classics are free."

Why would I read farther? Okay, I'll admit I did but it didn't get any better. "Kindle books are generally very overpriced..." is an opinion that is not supported by facts. Free books are not, in my opinion, offered to "make up" for what the OP considers overpricing.

Manners? I deleted the rude word.

[tubemonkey]

It's definitely worth it. Free public domain books, free library books, free Kindle books, and free books from other websites. The paper versions would cost you far more money in the long run than the cost of the Kindle; not to mention that some ebooks aren't readily available in print any more.