Has the Kindle Ruined My Bookstore Experience?

[idraw22]

I still enjoy organizing my bookshelf, except most of the time it's on my computer. I have still have older ones that don't have covers or need to be converted and put with newer ones of the same author or genre. But I still goto the bookstore and see if there's any I would like to have in ebook format or just read. I spend alot more time reading them tho.

[Kumabjorn]

That reminds me, I have a few books where I haven't been able to find a cover online, I saw one of those books in a used book store a while ago. I seriously considered going in there and use my phone to take a picture of it and load that into Calibre, but ethically I couldn't bring myself to do it.

[wings99]

I love my ereader (Sony 650), & I'll just buy books from Borders (now Bookworld.com.au) I do still find myself in bookshops during my lunch time, Have got Dymocks & a really good indie near my work. However, I take a photo of the books I want on my phone, then go & buy them online. Bookworld is rather expensive compared to a Kindle, however my local library is best for epub format. I frequent my local library weekly for pbooks, which I love. Overall, I prefer ebooks. I find that the local bookshops are overpriced, in Australia we get ripped off, they only stock maybe 3 books out of a series, then the books vanish from the shelves. Am still hunting for a book which I saw but didn't get at the time but when I went back it was gone. I can be sitting here at home on a Sunday really needed something to read & I have my computer, usb cable & Bookworld. Problem solved! Now the next big decision is what ereader do I buy next.

[xg4bx]

one thing that always bugged me is the fact that paper books never really go on sale or drop in price unless they're a remainder that they can't even give away or it's a huge title that drops a few bucks the week of release. a copy of book x will sit there and rot at full retail price until it's finally removed from the shelves. you have new, you have used, and there's no in between. movies drop in price, music drops, video games drop but books will sit there at $7.99-$15 forever.

if pubs/book stores want to sell hard copies, toss a few price drops, sales or coupons the customers way like every other entertainment media does.

[Clytie]

I do miss the sense of adventure and fun I experienced in visiting a used book shop. My family used to look forward very much to visiting the city (250km away), not just for the good Asian food and a wander around the Central Market, but for the used bookshops!

(Yep, we live in a rural town cluster with over 35,000 people but no bookshops.)

We used to visit the new-book shops as well, but they rarely had anything we wanted to buy. They became formulaic. But the used book shops were goldfields where we could pan and look for the good stuff.

Since having to swap to ebooks (due to illness), I miss grouting through a used-book shop, but I really enjoy discovering new authors online. I never run out of things to read, and I try a lot more new titles.

Our local library is still a warm and welcoming place, so we visit it occasionally, even though it doesn't offer ebooks. My husband does well sometimes out of the $2 special bin at Big W.

I feel that reading communities have largely moved online. This is one of them.

[Xanthe]

I miss going into the bookstore, but I've still got literally stacks of paper books that are waiting to be read (in addition to all my ebooks) and I physically don't have any more room to store books. So that's the main reason why I've curtailed my visits to actual book stores - I have no place to put them (and God forbid I should throw out or sell a book to actually make some space ).

I think that if I had more storage space, I would still be buying paper books close to the rate that I was before, though I might be picking up more tomes that just don't display right on a 6" ereader. I still get some paper books each month to review; those are currently stacked on my coffee table.

[speakingtohe]

Originally Posted by Kumabjorn

That reminds me, I have a few books where I haven't been able to find a cover online, I saw one of those books in a used book store a while ago. I seriously considered going in there and use my phone to take a picture of it and load that into Calibre, but ethically I couldn't bring myself to do it.

I don't see that as any more unethical than downloading one and I don't see downloading a cover as being particularly unethical. Not saying I am right of course.

If you get permission from the store to take the picture, you should be in reasonable shape ethics-wise.

Helen

[Kumabjorn]

I don't feel I could tell the shop owner the reason I want to take a picture of a book cover. I'm not going to buy anything, probably ever, in his store, so taking a photo to us with my digital book collection seems like crossing a line.

[speakingtohe]

I doubt they would care aout the reason, just say sure, fine, whatever. But if it feels wrong then you shouldn't do it.

Helen

[Kumabjorn]

I'm a timid kind of girl.

[Andrew H.]

Originally Posted by Kumabjorn

When I was a little girl a good friend of the family ran a record store down the street.

For some reason, I had assumed you were male. Although I suppose having been a little girl wouldn't rule that out. Although it would make it less likely, statistically...

On Topic:
E-books didn't affect my trips to the bookstore at all; they had already all but ceased due to Amazon.

My bookstore shopping was almost always characterized by repeated existential dilemmas: I'd see an interesting book and have to try and decide whether I should buy it based on the limited information available to me at the time - the cover, the back cover blurbs, the description of the book, and maybe reading a few pages. I hated having to make a decision based on such a small amount of information.

Amazon fixed all that; dozens or hundreds or thousands of reviews gave more information than I needed on a particular book...and if I ended up not liking something, I could easily find something else.

E-books are sort of like the icing on the cake - not only do I get the information I want from Amazon, but I can get the book itself faster than I could get in the car.

[Kumabjorn]

Originally Posted by Andrew H.

For some reason, I had assumed you were male. Although I suppose having been a little girl wouldn't rule that out. Although it would make it less likely, statistically...

Only statistically?
You're not alone, seems to happen here on a regular basis. Guess Swedish women aren't that girly, we compensate with our size.

[tubemonkey]

Originally Posted by Kumabjorn

Only statistically?
You're not alone, seems to happen here on a regular basis. Guess Swedish women aren't that girly, we compensate with our size.

You're from the land of sex change operations

[fjtorres]

Originally Posted by Kumabjorn

I don't feel I could tell the shop owner the reason I want to take a picture of a book cover. I'm not going to buy anything, probably ever, in his store, so taking a photo to us with my digital book collection seems like crossing a line.

Might the book be found at the library? They wouldn't mind...

[Kumabjorn]

Originally Posted by tubemonkey

You're from the land of sex change operations

They don't do that in the US? Is it an insurance problem?