How much have you saved by buying an ereader? - Page 7

Yapyap · 07-12-2012, 04:22 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DarkScribe

An enthusiastic reader would very likely buy a lot of secondhand books.

Unless of course you're an enthusiastic reader who prefers to read books published outside your own country/language.

I've only bought secondhand books when they're not available new, as the only places I can get secondhand English books in the genres I prefer are eBay, Amazon Marketplace and Abebooks, i.e. online bookshops; add in international shipping costs and secondhand books really aren't that cheap.

The average cost of non-free ebooks I've bought this year, thanks to taking advantage of coupons, sales and discounts whenever possible, is $4.03 - that's less than the shipping costs of any secondhand book I've ever bought, never mind the price of the book itself in addition to the P&P.

On the other hand, as I don't need to worry about shelf space and space for shelves any more, I've bought 191 ebooks for nearly $800 total this year already, so... yeah. "Saving" is a very relative term.

pdurrant · 07-12-2012, 04:51 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Yapyap

On the other hand, as I don't need to worry about shelf space and space for shelves any more, I've bought 191 ebooks for nearly $800 total this year already, so... yeah. "Saving" is a very relative term.

Hopefully you'll do better while reading your backlog, now that you've found this thread.

But even an average of $4.19 per book isn't too bad.

DarkScribe · 07-12-2012, 07:01 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by HarryT

Isn't it $1 per so-many pages? I looked at it once and it seemed that for a large book it worked out at several times that. Perhaps it's changed since I looked at it?

Large technical books and those with high graphic content are higher, but an average sized paperback has always come in the dollar range. Of course you realise they don't scan every book sent to them, once a title is scanned they add it to their library. It is how they can manage to work at such a low cost. I imagine that they have pretty well all popular titles on file.

HarryT · 07-12-2012, 07:42 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DarkScribe

Large technical books and those with high graphic content are higher, but an average sized paperback has always come in the dollar range. Of course you realise they don't scan every book sent to them, once a title is scanned they add it to their library. It is how they can manage to work at such a low cost. I imagine that they have pretty well all popular titles on file.

Thanks. No, I didn't realise that. I would have thought that there would be copyright issues with them retaining scanned documents. I wonder how they get away with it?

HarryT · 07-12-2012, 08:07 AM

Actually, now that I come to give the matter more thought, are you sure that 1dollarscan really would give you a scan of someone else's book, DarkScribe? Many people make marginal notes in their books; wouldn't you expect to get your scanned copy back complete with your notes, not (perhaps) someone else's?

WatchAdam · 07-12-2012, 08:46 AM

I guess I'm saving about $5 per book with an eReader on average, but then I'm also buying a lot more books than I used to...

ficbot · 07-12-2012, 08:54 AM

I did buy a lot of secondhand books, but I didn't just pick up any random thing on the $1 bin. I bought best-sellers at half-off from a local store that gets a lot of remainders and overstocks. Typical price was $9-11 per book. So if I am under $10 a book (with ebooks) then I consider it a win.

I have found that the free reads do subsidize the paid ones, so that even when I factor in device costs, I come out ahead. The best formula I have found for calculating true cost is money spent divided by books read. That way, paid books I have not read yet don't factor in, but free books I have read already (but not paid for) do. It's a more true number.

DarkScribe · 07-12-2012, 09:41 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by HarryT

Actually, now that I come to give the matter more thought, are you sure that 1dollarscan really would give you a scan of someone else's book, DarkScribe? Many people make marginal notes in their books; wouldn't you expect to get your scanned copy back complete with your notes, not (perhaps) someone else's?

The OCR software will only transcribe printed text. For that low cost they couldn't possibly also proofread the book. Yes I am sure. I have got back the same book but in slightly different editions. I sent some John D. MacDonald '60s editions and got back '70s imprints of the same volumes. I doubt that they would distribute any copy unless they had received an original. It is little different to me scanning something for someone and providing them with the resulting OCR file. No law against it.

The machine they use is quite impressive. Very fast and very accurate OCR recognition. They slice the spine and a small amount of the pages off the book and feed it through an auto-feed scanner. I Have seen a video of them when they first started out. Not sure if it is on youtube or not - I had a quick look but couldn't find it. The one I saw was attached to an online news article. I was quite amazed at first, but then I worked out how they were doing it. Not scanning any edition more than once.

You need to form a club/co-op to get volume pricing (keeping it around the dollar). It is a slow process to ship, as books are heavy and if you don't want to pay a premium, you need to select a slow shipping method. Not exactly an overnight express deal.

HarryT · 07-12-2012, 09:46 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DarkScribe

The OCR software will only transcribe printed text. For that low cost they couldn't possibly also proofread the book.

No, I understand that, but I thought they sent you a PDF page scan, too?

DarkScribe · 07-12-2012, 10:33 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by HarryT

No, I understand that, but I thought they sent you a PDF page scan, too?

We deal with Bookscan, the Japanese company direct, (I am in Australia) not their new US operation. You get the book in a format that suits a specified reader - in my case the Kindle DX. I believe that they use software called Finetune to do it. You do not get an editable file, unless you use their (more expensive) premium service though a lot of people have been converting them into a file that can be edited. Calibre will handle conversion to most formats, but still as a PDF. Out of curiosity I tried it with the OCR software that came with my Epson V700 and it converted it quite accurately and quickly into a text file. The only reason I can think of for doing that is to allow you to vary the fonts and sizes in your reader. I don't bother.

HarryT · 07-12-2012, 10:40 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DarkScribe

We deal with Bookscan, the Japanese company direct, (I am in Australia) not their new US operation. You get the book in a format that suits a specified reader - in my case the Kindle DX. I believe that they use software called Finetune to do it. You do not get an editable file, unless you use their (more expensive) premium service though a lot of people have been converting them into a file that can be edited. Calibre will handle conversion to most formats, but still as a PDF. Out of curiosity I tried it with the OCR software that came with my Epson V700 and it converted it quite accurately and quickly into a text file. The only reason I can think of for doing that is to allow you to vary the fonts and sizes in your reader. I don't bother.

Thanks - that explains it. I believe that the US operation gives you both an ebook version and a PDF page scan. Thanks for clarifying it.

Yapyap · 07-12-2012, 01:43 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by pdurrant

Hopefully you'll do better while reading your backlog, now that you've found this thread.

But even an average of $4.19 per book isn't too bad.

I've been good since that last post, having added only one book bought at $0.99 since then - as it was a deal on a traditionally published book I was interested in, I figured it's not going to get any cheaper...

estelle58 · 07-13-2012, 09:44 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Blossom

I haven't saved anything. After I got a eReader I went crazy buying books.

Same here

danskmacabre · 07-13-2012, 10:20 AM

I still browse 2nd hand bookstores, which I still enjoy, but seeing as I'm moving back to Australia soon, I've been getting rid of lots of my old pbooks and can't really justify buying more pbooks, second hand or not.

One day when I settle down for good I will probably browse second hand bookstores getting books dirt cheap and filling up book shelves I suppose.
Or maybe not, who knows how I'll feel when that happens.

One thing is for sure tho, impulse buying is far more of an occurrence now with ebooks than it was with pbooks as it's so much more convenient and dirt cheap with new authors..

fbrII · 07-13-2012, 10:38 AM

Well, I have read 38 books cover to cover so far at Barnes & Noble for free, and my wife probably has read another 20 or more.

One of the features of buying a Nook is the ability to read free at any Barnes and Noble store for an hour. I live about a mile or so from a B&N store. I enjoy walking, I enjoy coffee in the morning, I love reading and having recently retired, so I can now combine all of these interests into a morning walk to B&N, a cup of coffee and a good read. A nice feature is whatever book you are reading will open to the correct page each subsequent vist.

So, between my wife and I, we have fully recovered our initial Nook Color investment and then some. And I now get to read all those books I have an interest in but was formerly not willing to pay the full price due to the back-log of unread books at home.

Did I mention, I like the coffee?

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07-12-2012, 08:07 AM	#95
HarryT eBook Enthusiast Posts: 85,544 Karma: 93383099 Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: UK Device: Kindle Oasis 2, iPad Pro 10.5", iPhone 6	Actually, now that I come to give the matter more thought, are you sure that 1dollarscan really would give you a scan of someone else's book, DarkScribe? Many people make marginal notes in their books; wouldn't you expect to get your scanned copy back complete with your notes, not (perhaps) someone else's?

07-12-2012, 08:46 AM	#96
WatchAdam Enthusiast Posts: 33 Karma: 499822 Join Date: Jul 2012 Location: Sydney, Australia Device: Kindle	I guess I'm saving about $5 per book with an eReader on average, but then I'm also buying a lot more books than I used to...

07-12-2012, 08:54 AM	#97
ficbot Wizard Posts: 2,409 Karma: 4132096 Join Date: Sep 2008 Device: Kindle Paperwhite/iOS Kindle App	I did buy a lot of secondhand books, but I didn't just pick up any random thing on the $1 bin. I bought best-sellers at half-off from a local store that gets a lot of remainders and overstocks. Typical price was $9-11 per book. So if I am under $10 a book (with ebooks) then I consider it a win. I have found that the free reads do subsidize the paid ones, so that even when I factor in device costs, I come out ahead. The best formula I have found for calculating true cost is money spent divided by books read. That way, paid books I have not read yet don't factor in, but free books I have read already (but not paid for) do. It's a more true number.

07-13-2012, 10:20 AM	#104
danskmacabre Guru Posts: 733 Karma: 3593438 Join Date: Jun 2011 Location: Australia Device: Kobo Glo. Galaxy Tab S 8.4	I still browse 2nd hand bookstores, which I still enjoy, but seeing as I'm moving back to Australia soon, I've been getting rid of lots of my old pbooks and can't really justify buying more pbooks, second hand or not. One day when I settle down for good I will probably browse second hand bookstores getting books dirt cheap and filling up book shelves I suppose. Or maybe not, who knows how I'll feel when that happens. One thing is for sure tho, impulse buying is far more of an occurrence now with ebooks than it was with pbooks as it's so much more convenient and dirt cheap with new authors..

07-13-2012, 10:38 AM	#105
fbrII F. BluDevil Posts: 428 Karma: 1152548 Join Date: Dec 2008 Location: St. Louis Missouri Device: Pocketbook Inkpad3 pro, Kobo Libra, Kindle Paperwhite	Well, I have read 38 books cover to cover so far at Barnes & Noble for free, and my wife probably has read another 20 or more. One of the features of buying a Nook is the ability to read free at any Barnes and Noble store for an hour. I live about a mile or so from a B&N store. I enjoy walking, I enjoy coffee in the morning, I love reading and having recently retired, so I can now combine all of these interests into a morning walk to B&N, a cup of coffee and a good read. A nice feature is whatever book you are reading will open to the correct page each subsequent vist. So, between my wife and I, we have fully recovered our initial Nook Color investment and then some. And I now get to read all those books I have an interest in but was formerly not willing to pay the full price due to the back-log of unread books at home. Did I mention, I like the coffee?

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