Brick & Mortar Bookstore Swaps Paper for Kindles

[MrsJoseph]

Originally Posted by kacir

Of course they will. Just notice how nostalgic people are about horses.
Nobody seems to take into account shovelling heaps of manure, loading hay (allergy to pollen, anyone?).
Nobody seems to know that at the peak of horse-and-buggy era streets were ankle deep filled with horse manure and that NYC had to remove hundreds of dead horses from the streets. Every single day.

Thanks for the visuals. I'm going to think about dead horses all day now.

[SensualPoet]

I not only would happily trade in some dead tree books for a Kindle 3, but I'd toss in some LPs for free ...

[Worldwalker]

Originally Posted by Maggie Leung

As strange as it might seem to some consumers, there are people who support independent businesses, even if it means they don't get the cheapest prices, best deals and such. Many Portland residents are very pro-independent businesses.

Isn't it more convenient to buy things where you want, and just write a check for the difference to the business you want to support? Sort of personal welfare?

As for the deal ... non-profit or not, they still have to bring in enough money to pay their rent, utilities, and so on. They're not giving books away. Unless they're operating as a "free books" charity, they can't be giving books away, not and meet their obligations. They, like any business, do things that bring in money. So if they're offering to trade pbooks (if they're non-profit, were those books donated?) for Kindles (that are in high demand, and can be sold for a good price elsewhere), they're not doing it out of the goodness of their hearts; they're doing it because the money will pay their store rent, etc. It would be naive to think otherwise, just as if you thought a car dealer taking a trade-in was doing so for your benefit, not his own.

So, that's actually something notably in favor of ebooks: the fact that a business thinks that an ebook reader is worth more to a segment of buyers than the same amount of money in pbooks, even though the Kindle buyer would have to then go and buy (or find, if they're into PD) books to equal the same total, spending more money on the Kindle+books combination than on pbooks alone.

[Maggie Leung]

Originally Posted by Worldwalker

Isn't it more convenient to buy things where you want, and just write a check for the difference to the business you want to support? Sort of personal welfare?

As for the deal ... non-profit or not, they still have to bring in enough money to pay their rent, utilities, and so on. They're not giving books away. Unless they're operating as a "free books" charity, they can't be giving books away, not and meet their obligations. They, like any business, do things that bring in money. So if they're offering to trade pbooks (if they're non-profit, were those books donated?) for Kindles (that are in high demand, and can be sold for a good price elsewhere), they're not doing it out of the goodness of their hearts; they're doing it because the money will pay their store rent, etc. It would be naive to think otherwise, just as if you thought a car dealer taking a trade-in was doing so for your benefit, not his own.

So, that's actually something notably in favor of ebooks: the fact that a business thinks that an ebook reader is worth more to a segment of buyers than the same amount of money in pbooks, even though the Kindle buyer would have to then go and buy (or find, if they're into PD) books to equal the same total, spending more money on the Kindle+books combination than on pbooks alone.

I'm not sure why you raise the nonprofit argument, because no one has suggested that any business isn't out to make money. Duh. As for convenience and which businesses and products people want to support: That's determine by each buyer, so again pointless to argue.