It is the Worst of Times for Reading EBooks

[ZodWallop]

Originally Posted by Timboli

Take the situation with my wife and mother. They often read the same books, and not so many years ago, they used lend to each other. Now it has become more problematical, especially as my mother's eyesight means she needs either (hard to get) large print books or ebooks for her iPad. My wife has a Samsung tablet, but despite reading the odd ebook, prefers not to, and really wants to read the old fashioned way. I cannot convince her or my mother to use an E-Ink device, even though they have tried out my Kindles. So now, the same book is being bought twice (at least), whereas it used to be once. That's not even considering other family members and friends who used to share and borrow. So it seems to me, that publishers are reaping a huge advantage, but in many cases give pathetic excuses, despite all the facts, about why ebooks can't be much cheaper, and sometimes are the same or more in price.

I don't at all understand how that situation is anybody's fault other than your wife and mother: If your wife would read on the Samsung tablet she already has, she could loan the books to your mother. If your mother could do with not reading large print books, she could borrow paper books from your wife. What would you suggest the publisher do?

[leebase]

Everything isn't better. Everything isn't worse.

With a paper book, it was easy to lend it to someone. But, it was HARD to get the book back from them. They could damage the book, dog ear the pages, break the spine. But you certainly owned the book and could loan, give or sell it as you please.

And ebook can ALSO be loaned....by sharing your password...or taking advantage of lending options (at least for Amazon). The lending doesn't degrade your copy of the book in any way. They can never lose the book or forget to give it back to you.

When someone borrows my ebook, if they need it in large print, no problem.

[DiapDealer]

All those poor, poor weak-minded book-readers getting psychological-ed right out of their hard-earned pay by those svengali publishers. If only there were someone who could show them The Way.

[crane3]

Originally Posted by DiapDealer

All those poor, poor weak-minded book-readers getting psychological-ed right out of their hard-earned pay by those svengali publishers. If only there were someone who could show them The Way.

And the hi price of the ebook where it is really a rental/lease price. The seller/publisher still own the book & can "recall" the ebook at any time leaving the suckers empty handed.

[DNSB]

Originally Posted by crane3

And the hi price of the ebook where it is really a rental/lease price. The seller/publisher still own the book & can "recall" the ebook at any time leaving the suckers empty handed.

Last time I looked, it's rather hard for an epub format ebook to be "recalled" once it has been downloaded to the enduser's computer/device. I suppose they could de-authorize the Adobe ID for every person who purchased the epub but that's going to be a whole can of legal worms.

And if you are like many in these forums, removing DRM and creating backup copies is just part of the download and cleanup process when obtaining an ebook.

[Timboli]

Originally Posted by ZodWallop

I don't at all understand how that situation is anybody's fault other than your wife and mother: If your wife would read on the Samsung tablet she already has, she could loan the books to your mother. If your mother could do with not reading large print books, she could borrow paper books from your wife.

How exactly could my wife loan an ebook to my mother?
Neither live in the US.
One has an Amazon account, the other an Apple one. So even if my 84 year old mother were able to master the intricacies of using the Kindle App on her iPad and get an Amazon account, it would not really solve anything.

Anyway, I am not complaining about lack of options, and so not blaming anyone for that.

What would you suggest the publisher do?

Charge a fair and reasonable price for ebooks is all I ask.
The publisher and author are still gonna make more profit from that, than one person buying a single physical book and sharing with others.

[Timboli]

Originally Posted by leebase

With a paper book, it was easy to lend it to someone. But, it was HARD to get the book back from them. They could damage the book, dog ear the pages, break the spine. But you certainly owned the book and could loan, give or sell it as you please.

Generally both my mother and wife and most people I know, read a book only once, so not getting it back was never really much of an issue, unless you wanted to sell or were really keen to lend it to another person.

And ebook can ALSO be loaned....by sharing your password...or taking advantage of lending options (at least for Amazon).

How exactly does sharing your password work? An account is linked to a device, not just password.

For US Amazon where you can do the Family account thing, yes. Most other places around the world are not yet so lucky last I checked. Family sharing is limited anyway.

[Timboli]

Here is another way things are becoming worse for reading due to ebooks.

My mother lives in a Retirement Village, along with a few hundred others.

Many of those in the village, have donated their physical books to a small number of libraries around the village.

Of course, only a smaller portion of those books are Large Print ones, so as the eyesight of the elderly in that village gradually deteriorates, they stop reading smaller print ones.

But you have to accept, that many of those books are read by a huge number of readers, and that's not even counting family and friends who visit and borrow, as I have even done. So in a very real way, that could well be a loss of many sales to a publisher and author .... all those extra people reading for free.

Now however, many of those people are using digital readers, especially iPads, so they can have a larger text size. It is also hard to get a lot of books in Large Print. Then there is a choice of what to read, which is limited despite those libraries having several hundred books when combined. And of course, they sometimes need to wait their turn.

So because the ebooks cannot usually be shared, publishers and authors are reaping the reward every time a book is recommended to another person who then decides to buy their own copy ... no other choice really, if they want to read it too.

So there is a huge change around to how things used to be.

In short, many more books are being sold, due to ebooks.

And ebooks unlike physical books, don't really cost much beyond their initial production costs. Nothing to speak of for printing, storage or transport. No damage issues, either print, storage or usage. No issue for limited reruns. Far fewer risks. Etc etc.

So why should we pay as much or more for ebooks as compared to their physical counterpart, when clearly publishers and authors are reaping a much bigger reward these days?

Most if not all of us, expected to pay less for digital versions, cost of ereader device aside, and the facts and logic certainly show they should be ... significantly so.

So what is going on then?

[Deskisamess]

One has an Amazon account, the other an Apple one.

This means nothing...it is easy to install the Kindle app on an Apple product, and to register that app to anyone's Amazon account. The "sharing" isn't really the correct word. More than one device can be registered to the same account. Any Kindle or Kindle app registered to that same account will access to the books on that account. I currently have 8 or 9 devices and apps on my Amazon account. I trust the two other family members who read Kindle books from my account. Neither of them has ever bought anything or compromised my account in any way.

Amazon accounts are free, and it's not that difficult to learn to use the app on an iPad. My mother-in-law is 89, and learned to use a computer over the past few years. My 88 year old mom does pretty well with a Paperwhite.

I'm not sure if Kindle books can be loaned outside of the US. It is easier to just allow the person to use a device registered to my account.

[Raphi'Elohim]

Originally Posted by leebase

It is the worst of times....

Looking back over ten years of participating on this forum, I think it is the worst of times for reading ebooks. IMHO.

eInk innovation has all but come to a stop. Where are the large eInk readers with pen input and worklow? Where is color? Yeah, yeah...yet another one is "real close" and just showed something "promising" that they never said would make it into a tablet ereader.

I don't see the point of color. I used to be a devotee to Sony eReaders and most of the later models had the ability to annotate with a pen. That is the only feature I miss with the newer eReaders. What happened is not enough people were willing to pay the premium price for Sony eReaders etc...

Kobo filled the vaccuum left by Sony and Kobo is the only reason why Amazon kindles did not stay more static in features and ergonomics.

That being said Epub3 format is said to be advancing compared to Epub2 with nice newer features.

eInk pricing fell to a certain point, and then stopped. Tablets are now cheaper than an eInk reader.

What you need to understand is that reading has always been a niche thing. How many people read as much as Warren Buffet for instance ? He reads 500 pages a day of non-fiction and credits it to his success. Most people just won't do it.

Combine that with the fact that American culture is anti-inellectual like the Roman empire and you can see the case for the premium price.

I think sales of eReaders peaked around 2010 and people who were not part of the niche reading culture bought them just for the trendiness of the thing and then sales fell off when they realized they really don't like reading as much as they thought.

Also, eReaders are so good at what they do people rarely need to upgrade and that is another factor in funding the Barnes and Nobles of the world who are struggling.

There are no more independant eInk devices to speak of. Surely not of the quality of the Sony line. Pretty much "eco system" plays like Amazon, Kobo and Nook are all that's left. And only Amazon has a healthy business.

I think there is but they might come from Europe and China and just have like a vanilla android on it. Mantano/Bookari sideloaded on a rooted Nook device can use multiple stores too and has an e-ink mode. That is if you can get it to work right.

The rise of audio books is a detriment to actual reading. It's bad enough with the twitters, face place, and insta-whosit's of the world destroying people's attention spans....now folks are too lazy to learn to read and are counting listening to a book as if it's reading.

It is the anti-intellectualism of the culture around you like I said before.

You still don't own an ebook, you have a license for it.

eBooks are too d@mned expensive. Apparently.

Apple still sells ebooks.

DRM is still the norm. Everyone's ebooks can disappear at any moment.

I stripped all my books of DRM and always do.

People are going blind because they are reading on tablets and phones which shoot light DIRECTLY INTO YOUR EYE. eInk, where light must first bounce before finding your eye, isn't being embraced by everyone the way SCIENCE tells us it SHOULD.

Agreed

It is the worst of times for reading ebooks.

Disagreed , eReaders have reached a state where they are perfect niche product for doing one thing well.

[DiapDealer]

People are going blind because they are reading on tablets and phones which shoot light DIRECTLY INTO YOUR EYE. eInk, where light must first bounce before finding your eye, isn't being embraced by everyone the way SCIENCE tells us it SHOULD.

Originally Posted by Raphi'Elohim

Agreed.

The OP was actually being a bit sarcastic with the above comment about going blind. Lumen for lumen, there is no scientific difference between direct and indirect light. Intensity is intensity, is intensity. If the direct light is correctly dropped to the same intensity as the indirect light, the former is not going to damage anyone's eyes (any more than the latter will, at least).

My tablets are all about as dim as they'll go these days (with a non-white background when reading). I've been reading this way for several years. No eyestrain, no headaches, no loss of vision whatsoever.

[ZodWallop]

Originally Posted by Timboli

How exactly could my wife loan an ebook to my mother?
Neither live in the US.
One has an Amazon account, the other an Apple one.

I can't believe those greedy publishers forced your wife and mother to use separate accounts. Sheesh, they'll do anything to squeeze a penny out of sheeple

So even if my 84 year old mother were able to master the intricacies of using the Kindle App on her iPad and get an Amazon account, it would not really solve anything.

What stops your wife from installing the Kindle app on your mother's iPad and logging in with her (your wife's) credentials? Indeed, the iPad offers an extra layer of safety as your mother can't accidentally buy a book on your wife's account. Boom. Solved.

[tomsem]

Originally Posted by ZodWallop

talling the Kindle app on your mother's iPad and logging in with her (your wife's) credentials? Indeed, the iPad offers an extra layer of safety as your mother can't accidentally buy a book on your wife's account. Boom. Solved.

+1

And you can turn off the app’s Whispersync for Books setting so that her reading won’t affect reading position, annotations etc that you have established with your own reading.

[Deskisamess]

Indeed, the iPad offers an extra layer of safety as your mother can't accidentally buy a book on your wife's account. Boom. Solved.

I forgot about that...no purchasing from within the iOS Kindle app. Good point.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by Timboli

Here is another way things are becoming worse for reading due to ebooks.

My mother lives in a Retirement Village, along with a few hundred others.

What I used to do with my mother is I would get the eBooks for her from the library or buy some for her. Then I would call her and have her plug in her Reader. to her laptop I would then remote access in and sort out the eBooks on her Reader. It worked very well. I was able to help her and she was able to easily read the books she wanted. She used to go to the library or bookstore or borrow from friends/family. As she got older, she had less friends to borrow from and only my sister sometimes. But with eBooks, I was able to keep her supplied and I was also able to find books she read that she may not have otherwise read. Even when she want into an assisted living facility I was still able to help her out.