How much have you spent on ebooks vs. ereaders?

[latepaul]

Originally Posted by Atunah

I entered the cost of my ebooks into calibre, as a column I believe. But I don't see a way to see a added amount for that, just all the individual ones. Of course its not just numbers in there, its the same column I mark lib for library and such. But then I am a pretty primitive user of that program.

Well I use a database query but you could create a catalog csv file, import that into a spreadsheet program and total the column. It should treat any non-numeric values as 0.

[Lynx-lynx]

I've spent far more on ebooks than on ereaders, and I marked the 100% more on ebooks option.

Way back I bought the Sony 650, and then the Kobo Glo when it first came on the market in Aus (2011?), and then I won a free Kobo H2O in one of their (then) monthly Contests. I've got coming up to 2,000 ebooks, so in my calculation I must be somewhere near the 100% on ebooks option.

[DrNefario]

It looks like it's about 3-4x more on ebooks for me. I voted for 5x.

I've been tracking my ebook expenditure with a spreadsheet for a while now, but I know it's missing at least one storybundle, and I haven't counted Hugo voter packets or any proportion of my Prime subscription. The spreadsheet total is a little over £1000, since the beginning of time*, which is quite handy for the simplicity of the maths.

I have three e-readers, which cost a total of roughly £235. I haven't spent a lot on covers, let's say £15 per device, giving me about £280. My old Kindle is crying out for replacement, though. The battery barely last a whole book any more.


*2010, when I got my Kindle. I didn't pay for any ebooks before that, just picked up a few freebies, mostly from Baen.

[library addict]

I said 50x because I don't want to believe I've spent 100x what I spent on my Sony and Nexus in books. It is probably closer to 100x than 50x, but I am in denial.

[Alohamora]

Counting only eink devices and books, maybe 4 or 5 times as much on books vs. devices.

That leaves out audio books, things to play them on, and tablets. Tablets don't count because they're used for other things, right?

[tubemonkey]

Originally Posted by Alohamora

Tablets don't count because they're used for other things, right?

Right

[Katsunami]

I have no idea, but I think I spent more on e-books. Let's see what I can remember:

2007: Cybook Gen3, €425 including case, sold for €250 in 2008. Spent: €175.
2011: Amazon Touch, €139 including sleeve, sold for €75 in 2012. Spent: €64
2012: Amazon KPW1, €145 including cover, still own this. Spent: €144.

I do have a tablet as well, but that isn't really used to read e-books. Its main purpose is to allow me to read PDFs and websites on the couch (and to play Go and Chess against GoDroid and DroidFish).

Total spent on readers: €383.

My library now contains close to 900 books. Most are bought using huge Kobo discounts (often at least 50%, sometimes up to 90%), or Delphi Classics discounts (25-75%).

The Kobo books I have cost around €7 on average, but I have an average discount of around 70%. Those are +/- 843 books. Thus, €7 * 0.3 * 843 = ~€1770

The Delphi Classics cost between €2 and €5, averaging €3.50, and the average discount would be around 50%. I have 57 of them. Thus, 3.50 * 0.5 * 57 = ~€100.

As I did not keep track of my spending, the very rough estimate I can make is that I spent around ~€1870 on e-books since the latter part of 2011 up until now.

This comes down to spending 4.88x as much on books as on e-readers.

So, I voted 5x as much on e-books, as a very rough estimate.

[Wearever]

Originally Posted by GeoffR

In ebook spending: include subscripions, library memberships, etc.

In ereader spending: include ereader covers and accessories, ereading apps, etc. but don't include phones, laptops etc. unless you bought them mainly for reading ebooks.

Which option is closest, in your estimation, to what you have spent on ereaders vs. ebooks to date?

Edit: Sorry my phrasing of the options was a bit clumsy. "about 2x more on ebooks than on ereaders" would have been better than saying "about 2x as much on ebooks as on ereaders".

The basic idea of the poll is to see what proportion of spending goes on content (ebooks) compared to the things needed to read that content (ereaders).

Geoff , Are Tablets considered ereaders in this poll ? I counted them because I use mine for reading books too. Darn I didn't count covers. I don't think it would have made much of a difference in the numbers though.

[Steve H]

Just buying an Oasis and a Voyage means I have spent way too much! Although I am happy that I bought the Oasis...books -I don't want to know. At least i am getting more deal and free books.

[Catlady]

I think I paid $100 each for my two e-readers, which I still have. I just spent $40 for a Kindle Fire tablet to replace one of the e-readers; I'll keep the other as a backup. I have no idea how much I've spent on e-books.

[badgoodDeb]

I don't feel like doing the math (and I'm not sure I want to know!) but ereaders allow the benefit of lots of free books (of varying quality), plus free start-of-series books occasionally. Then I spend real money to continue the series, but I know I will like them.

Ereaders also allow buying when you need the next book. With physical books, I bought a book when I found it, and put it on the shelf till I was in the mood for it. If that ever came about. And if I remembered that I had the book. (I've bought multiple copies of books, not knowing I had done so.)

So with physical books, my money is spent buying books (& storing them) when they are available. I'm still working through my physical shelves of "ToBeRead" books. With an ereader, aside from sales, I don't buy a book until I'm ready to start it. That alone is a great savings!

So if some of that savings went into buying the device, that seems a very fair exchange. Add in the space savings of not having physical books, and my enjoyment of "new gadgets" (gadget lust) .... I think the ereader world is certainly a better buy!

And that's not even counting the ability to enlarge the font, as my eyes age ....

[HarryT]

I spend far more on books than on reading devices: somewhere between 5x and 10x as much. I no longer automatically buy any new reader which comes into the market, as I once did. It's now a mature market, and it would take something special to make me replace my Kindle Voyage which, after 18 months of use, I still regard as the best reader I've had so far.

As a previous poster commented, though, spending a relatively small amount of money on a reader opens the door to a whole world of free and low-cost books, so it's money well spent.

[bgalbrecht]

Originally Posted by Cinisajoy

I have found that about 50% of the freebies were not worth what I paid for them.
Most expensive ebook was Atlas Shrugged. $14.06.

I would argue that your most expensive ebook wasn't worth what you paid for it either. I paid $11.56 for it, and I found it to be a Did Not Finish. Fortunately, I got a 100% micropay rebate from Fictionwise (I miss those days!) for it, so I treat it as a freebie.

I answered that I spent 100x on ebooks compared to ereaders, but in retrospect, I suspect that it's really somewhere between 20x and 50x, since I think I actually bought 4 Nook readers, sold the original Nook back to B&N for a discount on one of the Simple Touches, one reader had a broken screen, and I picked up one reader for $15 or $25 on clearance. I'm counting the Nook Tablet because I did use it a few times to read stuff that I couldn't read on the PC or NST, like comic.

[Cinisajoy]

Originally Posted by bgalbrecht

I would argue that your most expensive ebook wasn't worth what you paid for it either. I paid $11.56 for it, and I found it to be a Did Not Finish. Fortunately, I got a 100% micropay rebate from Fictionwise (I miss those days!) for it, so I treat it as a freebie.

I answered that I spent 100x on ebooks compared to ereaders, but in retrospect, I suspect that it's really somewhere between 20x and 50x, since I think I actually bought 4 Nook readers, sold the original Nook back to B&N for a discount on one of the Simple Touches, one reader had a broken screen, and I picked up one reader for $15 or $25 on clearance. I'm counting the Nook Tablet because I did use it a few times to read stuff that I couldn't read on the PC or NST, like comic.

No argument on Atlas Shrugged. I am stuck at 45%.
My 3 kindles were $25.

[Tattncat]

Most of my discretionary funds are spent on ebooks, not counting the freebies and PD I pick up. I am currently at about 16k in ebooks. I bought my last readee, a tablet, a Galaxy 3S approx. 2-3 years ago. Since then I have converted my old Galaxy 3S phone into another reader. Leaving me with 2 NOOK CLASSIC tablets, one old Nook reader ( the first one out) and two Sonys (which still work, btw); a 500 and a 700.

Ditto on Atlas Shrugged being my most expensive, but since it is my favorite book of all time. I had no problem with the cost.