Ebook Buying Addicts' Support Thread

[CRussel]

Originally Posted by MikeB1972

It's not a great cause IMO, they are selling the books they digitise on their website. How is this any different than SF Gateway? (other than the fact that Singularity want you to pay up front for acquiring the rights).

And this quote from the FAQ says they aren't even going to get the rights for everything they try and sell.
"Some of the books that we ebookify will be "orphaned," with no current copyright holder. Even so, we're going to do our very best track down the authors (or their estates) and get their blessing."

It is a good cause, if you believe (as I do) that these early works in our genre should be preserved. They make every attempt to find the copyright holder, and they do a quality job of digitizing. Yes they sell them to those who haven't contributed to the project. Duh. I contributed enough the first time around that I have a lifetime membership. And I'd contribute again, if finances weren't really tight right now.

[issybird]

Six weeks into the year and I've bought three ebooks, or half my allotment. It's been much easier than I expected on a shaky New Year's morning, but I'm not complacent. That said, I've broken my worst habits of the daily deal variety. Most important, while I've got a wishlist, I'm not tempted at current prices. So I'm chugging along comfortably.

I do wish my TBR were dropping a little faster. I've had next to no free time in the past couple of weeks and that's retarded my progress on that front.

[pdurrant]

Congratulations, Issybird!

I've managed to still keep within my budget, and I have really wanted all the books I've bought this year, which have all been on special offer and by authors I really like.

There was a bit of a wobble a few days ago, but I survived!

[issybird]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

Congratulations, Issybird!

I've managed to still keep within my budget, and I have really wanted all the books I've bought this year, which have all been on special offer and by authors I really like.

There was a bit of a wobble a few days ago, but I survived!

Thanks and back atcha! We're all doing remarkably well. *spits over left shoulder*

[HomeInMyShoes]

Ack! My spending goal for this year is utter insanity. I still haven't bought anything, but I did some calculations. My book allowance is 13.7 cents (CENTS!!!) a day. Budgeting out my year I have accumulated all of $5.75 that I can spend so far.

I need to write my library a thank-you letter some time.

[pdurrant]

Wow. $50 is a very challenging target. My target is nearly 10 times more. (£300 for the year. Just under $500 at current exchange rates.)

Very many congratulations on sticking to zero purchases so far. I'm very impressed!

[Demingy]

Originally Posted by CRussel

It is a good cause, if you believe (as I do) that these early works in our genre should be preserved. They make every attempt to find the copyright holder, and they do a quality job of digitizing. Yes they sell them to those who haven't contributed to the project. Duh. I contributed enough the first time around that I have a lifetime membership. And I'd contribute again, if finances weren't really tight right now.

I think it's a good cause which is why I decided to contribute to get the lifetime subscription. There are so many fantastic vintage sci-fi books that are just going to disappear without this kind of effort. I agree that they should be compensated by everyone who takes advantage of their hard work, whether it's through subscriptions or sales of individual books. I'm glad this was mentioned here or I wouldn't have known about it.

[BelleZora]

Congratulations to Issybird and PDurrant, and sympathy to HomeInMyShoes.

My only purchase in February is Fugitive Pieces, the Literary Book Club selection, at $9.99. I read all three January purchases and have spent just under $18 for the year.

So I'm doing great.

Confession time: I've been in the Death Valley National Park backcountry all month with no wifi access and have rejoined civilization briefly only a couple of times. No wifi certainly settles the ebook buying problem. Probably not a permanent solution, though. Dark nights also solve the reading distraction problem, except for the billions of stars.

[Tarana]

An accounting problem: How do I allocate a lifetime subscription? There's a very interesting Kickstarter oferring a lifetime subscription for their ebook reissues of not-previously-digitised old SF/Fantasy books.

I saw that. If you are paying it all this year, I would amortize it over THIS year, the remaining months, not over 5 years. This is because it's all paid this year.

I passed on that offer after reading that just in one year, most of the books were pretty ho-hum although there was one so stellar it will be showing up at Amazon later this year. I spent a couple of years reading a lot of ho-hum books and life's just too short for that. So, go for the lower level if you want, but remember, you still have all those Lightspeeds to get through and now the Fantasy ones to get through. Yep, you are a fast reader, but remember that they will probably do a kickstarter next year to again raise more money. Budget for that. They will likely again offer t e lifetime membership and you can get all of the books anyway.

[Tarana]

My book budget has been enabled by over $100 in Amazon Gift Certificates plus another $30 in Paypal from selling books and audiobooks that I no longer wanted. So, I now have the funding for the Kickstarter Lightspeed project when they draw off for it. yay. The remaining books and audiobook sales - not sure if I should get a Kobo GC for my account or apply it to Baen for future bundles.

[Fbone]

My totals for 2014:

Books purchased 20
Total spent $20.47
Average $1.03/book

Not bad thanks to Kobo's 90% code. My annual budget for 2015 will remain $600, however, I fear I won't be as thrifty this year. A new e-reader purchase may be necessary sometime during the year as my trusty Sony 650's battery is showing its age. Its cost will come out of the $600 so I'll plan accordingly.

[CRussel]

Originally Posted by Fbone

A new e-reader purchase may be necessary sometime during the year as my trusty Sony 650's battery is showing its age. Its cost will come out of the $600 so I'll plan accordingly.

Surely there must be a way to replace the battery? OK, I agree, not an officially supported one, but you're long past warranty anyway, so why not give it a try. I know for most iThings, someone has done a YouTube video for how to replace the battery.

[bgalbrecht]

Even though I haven't been reading much short fiction lately, I was seriously considering joining the Lightspeed kickstarter campaign. I forgot about it, now it's too late. Conundrum solved.

[DrNefario]

Two Daily Deals in two days have put me behind my TBR for possibly the first time this year.

Today's was on my wish list, and was a bit of a surprise, given that it's the second in the series, but yesterday's was the kind of thing I should probably be resisting.

This was my 15th purchase of the year (of 20 total additions), so I don't think I'm going to match Fbone's totals.

[Fbone]

Originally Posted by CRussel

Surely there must be a way to replace the battery? OK, I agree, not an officially supported one, but you're long past warranty anyway, so why not give it a try. I know for most iThings, someone has done a YouTube video for how to replace the battery.

Yes, the Newpower99 website sells Sony Reader batteries along with video instructions. I think I may upgrade to a device with a better screen, light, longer battery life and smaller dimensions. I may try to replace the Sony's battery and keep it as a back-up.