Digital Renting? Or Ownership? - Page 2

crossi · 10-09-2014, 04:29 PM

No way. I much prefer to own, though I am all for getting rid of clutter. I don't want to be dependant on an internet connection or a third party that can change the availability of items I want.
I'm replacing most of my paper books with the ebook versions and 5 or 5000 of them take no more room. Even the digital items I buy I prefer to have backups in my home and on dropbox.

cromag · 10-09-2014, 04:39 PM

If it's just "entertainment" I don't mind services like Netflix. In fact, I don't even regard this as "renting" -- I think more of the service than the content.

But even for movies there are some I know I will want to revisit, and I buy them on DVD.

When it comes to reading, a far greater proportion falls into the category of "probably wanting to revisit" and I'd much rather buy it and have it permanently available.

pidgeon92 · 10-09-2014, 05:53 PM

I vastly prefer renting, especially now that it is so easy to do. I've gotten rid of the majority of my CDs, DVDs and paper books. I scan all of the papers that I need to retain, and shred them.

Now if I could just get rid of all of the rest of my junk. I have so much stuff that I don't want to burden anyone else with when I die.

Purple Lady · 10-09-2014, 06:11 PM

I would prefer actually owning the ebooks I "buy".

crich70 · 10-09-2014, 06:49 PM

I prefer to buy rather than rent things. I mean say a book is $2.99 to buy but I rent it for .99 a month. In a year I'll have spent $11.88 or 3.97 times the value of that one book. Some bills are recurring and with good reason. Things like rent, electric, phone & internet are continuing services that have to be paid for, but why pay continually for the purchase of a book or movie?

taustin · 10-09-2014, 06:54 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by crich70

I prefer to buy rather than rent things. I mean say a book is $2.99 to buy but I rent it for .99 a month. In a year I'll have spent $11.88 or 3.97 times the value of that one book.

Why would you rent the same book for a year? Do you read that slowly? Do you reread the same books over and over? If so, then, yeah, buy rather than rent. For me, I read a book, usually in a few days, and then never look at it again.

conan50 · 10-09-2014, 07:49 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by pidgeon92

I vastly prefer renting, especially now that it is so easy to do. I've gotten rid of the majority of my CDs, DVDs and paper books. I scan all of the papers that I need to retain, and shred them.

Now if I could just get rid of all of the rest of my junk. I have so much stuff that I don't want to burden anyone else with when I die.

I gave much thought to purchasing some favorite movies rather than renting them, and decided even there I will just rent them. It is around $9.99 to buy a digital SD movie, and about $2.99 to rent that same digital SD movie. If I watch that movie again every 2-3 years, let's say 3 times in 10 years, it still is only the price of having bought 1 digital SD copy. In 5-10 years it will be in a different, maybe better format, and I figure why buy it in a format now that is useless in 5-10 years? I've already been down the VHS to DVD to Blu-Ray road. 4 K or whatever will be next, making anything we buy now useless in a few years. I tried to watch a VHS Christmas movie on my HD TV awhile back, it looked really bad.

conan50 · 10-09-2014, 07:56 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by crich70

I prefer to buy rather than rent things. I mean say a book is $2.99 to buy but I rent it for .99 a month. In a year I'll have spent $11.88 or 3.97 times the value of that one book. Some bills are recurring and with good reason. Things like rent, electric, phone & internet are continuing services that have to be paid for, but why pay continually for the purchase of a book or movie?

Good point. It is worthwhile to do the math on everything entertainment-wise and decide what makes the most sense for our use case. I think if a person adds up the entertainment costs and measures that against rental or streaming fees/services a case can be made for or against it.
There is another entirely different question regarding going digital or having hard copies of books, movies, music. I decided awhile back to go all digital, so it only a question of purchasing and storing it, or leaving it in the cloud and/or 'leasing' the items.

crich70 · 10-09-2014, 08:13 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by taustin

Why would you rent the same book for a year? Do you read that slowly? Do you reread the same books over and over? If so, then, yeah, buy rather than rent. For me, I read a book, usually in a few days, and then never look at it again.

I often enjoy re-reading a book that I've found to be good just as I enjoy listening to a particular piece of music again. Likewise I enjoy watching movies more than once. Each to their own though, and I was just using the book as an example.

Red Falcon · 10-09-2014, 11:15 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by susan_cassidy

The Amazon Kindle Unlimited program has no limit on the time you can keep a book. The only limit is that you can only borrow 10 books at a time, although I don't see why anyone would need to borrow more than one at a time, unless they were going to be away from wi-fi for a while.

I borrow multiple books with my KU membership because I have 3 kindles linked to my account.My mom, sister and me all use one KU account so it is well worth it to us.

taustin · 10-10-2014, 01:56 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by crich70

I often enjoy re-reading a book that I've found to be good just as I enjoy listening to a particular piece of music again. Likewise I enjoy watching movies more than once. Each to their own though, and I was just using the book as an example.

I think music has a lot more repeat appeal to far more people than music or movies. For me, there's a handful of both (books and movies, that is) that I reread from time to time, but I can count either without running out of fingers. The other 99% of either, once is enough. There's always something new to read.

crich70 · 10-10-2014, 04:14 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by taustin

I think music has a lot more repeat appeal to far more people than music or movies. For me, there's a handful of both (books and movies, that is) that I reread from time to time, but I can count either without running out of fingers. The other 99% of either, once is enough. There's always something new to read.

I think you meant "books or movies" not "music or movies" taustin. A little slip of the typing fingers.

taustin · 10-10-2014, 11:24 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by crich70

I think you meant "books or movies" not "music or movies" taustin. A little slip of the typing fingers.

You are correct. I am an idiot.

Ripplinger · 10-10-2014, 12:11 PM

When I buy something, I expect to own it, to have it always be available to me. I like to reread some books, so this even applies to books for me. I don't have much faith in stores keeping my content available when I do want to read a title again. I also like to correct my ebooks when I find errors (yes, they drive me that crazy).

So I don't even consider a book as only "licensed" when I pay for it. If I didn't care about keeping a title, I'd borrow it from my library.

Jessica Lares · 10-10-2014, 01:21 PM

There are some things that are worth renting, and other things that are better to buy.

Books are half and half. I want to own the books I like, I want to own my textbooks that aren't specific to versions of software and are just pure documentation/references that you can apply anywhere. I'll gladly rent everything else.

I don't use Netflix (the rest of my family does though), and I own only a few movies. I'm very interested in accumulating a nice collection, but at the same time I'm not. They're very different to music albums and take massive amounts of space, and they are things you probably pull out one time a year or even few.

Music is a 100% buy for me. And that is because labels and artists have too much control over streaming. Like for instance, one of my favorite albums isn't even for sale at the moment. And if you can't buy it, you most likely can't stream it. And because I buy a lot of EPs and singles, that's a huge problem for me as those always go away eventually.

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10-09-2014, 04:29 PM	#16
crossi Guru Posts: 997 Karma: 12000001 Join Date: Nov 2009 Location: Seattle Wahington U.S. Device: kindle	No way. I much prefer to own, though I am all for getting rid of clutter. I don't want to be dependant on an internet connection or a third party that can change the availability of items I want. I'm replacing most of my paper books with the ebook versions and 5 or 5000 of them take no more room. Even the digital items I buy I prefer to have backups in my home and on dropbox.

10-09-2014, 04:39 PM	#17
cromag Surfin the alpha waves ~~ Posts: 26,294 Karma: 459765791 Join Date: Dec 2010 Location: New Jersey Device: Jetbook Lite & Mini, Nook STR, Kobo, Hanvon N516, Kindle 2, Androids	If it's just "entertainment" I don't mind services like Netflix. In fact, I don't even regard this as "renting" -- I think more of the service than the content. But even for movies there are some I know I will want to revisit, and I buy them on DVD. When it comes to reading, a far greater proportion falls into the category of "probably wanting to revisit" and I'd much rather buy it and have it permanently available.

10-09-2014, 05:53 PM	#18
pidgeon92 Wizard Posts: 3,144 Karma: 8426142 Join Date: Jun 2008 Location: Chicago, IL Device: Kindle PW2, Kindle Voyage, Kindle DXG, Boox M90, Kobo Aura HD	I vastly prefer renting, especially now that it is so easy to do. I've gotten rid of the majority of my CDs, DVDs and paper books. I scan all of the papers that I need to retain, and shred them. Now if I could just get rid of all of the rest of my junk. I have so much stuff that I don't want to burden anyone else with when I die.

10-09-2014, 06:11 PM	#19
Purple Lady Grand Sorcerer Posts: 5,698 Karma: 16542228 Join Date: Feb 2010 Location: Pennsylvania Device: Huawei MediaPad M5, LG V30, Boyue T80S, Nexus 7 LTE, K3 3G, Fire HD8	I would prefer actually owning the ebooks I "buy".

10-09-2014, 06:49 PM	#20
crich70 Grand Sorcerer Posts: 11,310 Karma: 43993832 Join Date: Feb 2010 Location: Monroe Wisconsin Device: K3, Kindle Paperwhite, Calibre, and Mobipocket for Pc (netbook)	I prefer to buy rather than rent things. I mean say a book is $2.99 to buy but I rent it for .99 a month. In a year I'll have spent $11.88 or 3.97 times the value of that one book. Some bills are recurring and with good reason. Things like rent, electric, phone & internet are continuing services that have to be paid for, but why pay continually for the purchase of a book or movie?

10-10-2014, 12:11 PM	#29
Ripplinger 350 Hoarder Posts: 3,574 Karma: 8281267 Join Date: Dec 2010 Location: Midwest USA Device: Sony PRS-350, Kobo Glo & Glo HD, PW2	When I buy something, I expect to own it, to have it always be available to me. I like to reread some books, so this even applies to books for me. I don't have much faith in stores keeping my content available when I do want to read a title again. I also like to correct my ebooks when I find errors (yes, they drive me that crazy). So I don't even consider a book as only "licensed" when I pay for it. If I didn't care about keeping a title, I'd borrow it from my library.

10-10-2014, 01:21 PM	#30
Jessica Lares Wizard Posts: 2,240 Karma: 5759170 Join Date: Jun 2011 Location: Near Dallas, Texas, USA Device: iPad Mini, iPod Touch (5th gen)	There are some things that are worth renting, and other things that are better to buy. Books are half and half. I want to own the books I like, I want to own my textbooks that aren't specific to versions of software and are just pure documentation/references that you can apply anywhere. I'll gladly rent everything else. I don't use Netflix (the rest of my family does though), and I own only a few movies. I'm very interested in accumulating a nice collection, but at the same time I'm not. They're very different to music albums and take massive amounts of space, and they are things you probably pull out one time a year or even few. Music is a 100% buy for me. And that is because labels and artists have too much control over streaming. Like for instance, one of my favorite albums isn't even for sale at the moment. And if you can't buy it, you most likely can't stream it. And because I buy a lot of EPs and singles, that's a huge problem for me as those always go away eventually.