not-news: ebook buyers loyal to walled gardens

[speakingtohe]

If it was my mother who is 87 and she bought a device that wouldn't work for her she would just return it and get one that would (another kindle keyboard if they still sell them)

I am thinking most that are happy with what they have will simply buy from the same vender.

What surprises me are the people who have no desire to upgrade. Of course they are probably smarter and richer than I am as I have several ereaders and only need one.

Helen

[Jessica Lares]

Originally Posted by speakingtohe

What surprises me are the people who have no desire to upgrade. Of course they are probably smarter and richer than I am as I have several ereaders and only need one.

I only upgrade when my stuff breaks. I will most likely have the same iPad Mini 5 years from now while everyone has the newer stuff. Not smarter or rich, just have no need for a bunch of readers. Spend all that money on the content itself.

[meeera]

Originally Posted by Jessica Lares

I only upgrade when my stuff breaks. I will most likely have the same iPad Mini 5 years from now while everyone has the newer stuff.

Heh, I read that 'iPad Mini 5', and started wondering where on earth you got it and when it would be available to the rest of us. *whistles innocently*

[shanghaichica]

Originally Posted by GeoffR

Kobo will almost always be cheaper than Amazon if the book is by a publisher that allows Kobo promo codes to be used. In the US none of the big publishers allow promo codes to be used, but in other countries most big publishers allow them.

Another factor I think is that in the US you can usually only buy the US edition of the book, and in the UK you can usually only buy the UK edition, but in other countries you often have the choice of buying either edition, and that means that even if the UK publisher doesn't allow promo codes you can buy it from the US publisher who does, or vice versa.

Local retailers seem to be more focused on the local market than Amazon, for example in New Zealand Kobo and other local retailers had (and still have) specials to promote Eleanor Catton's book after it won the Man Booker prize, none of which have been price matched by Amazon.

I've very rarely benefited from use of Kobo's coupons. Most of the books I want do not get discounted and on a lot of occasions even with the discount applied, the book is still not cheaper than over on amazon, or is only a few pennies cheaper. I have to then ask myself for the sake of 5 or 10 p is it worth firing up my laptop and using adobe and calibre? At least in the UK, amazon are also good at price matching with kobo and other stores, so even if they have some kind of promotion on, I will probably be able to get the book at the same price from amazon within a few hours if not instantly.

[VictoriaP]

Originally Posted by speakingtohe

What surprises me are the people who have no desire to upgrade. Of course they are probably smarter and richer than I am as I have several ereaders and only need one.

Helen

I'm the opposite--I'm surprised at how many people upgrade yearly. I'm one who only upgrades when either something breaks, or there's a very clear reason to--for me, that means a MAJOR hardware upgrade, not an incremental one, or in the case of various iThings, when key apps require higher firmware than I can update on the current device. First and second Kindles were in use 2-2 1/2 years each before I bought a new one. (And my first ereader, the K2 in my avatar, is still working as a daily reader in the hands of a friend.)

I'd consider a different brand because I know I can convert my books, but I'm spoiled by the convenience of having 90% of my books in Amazon's cloud. Perhaps I'd feel differently if I were in a place where I could actually handle a Kobo before buying one, but really, Amazon hasn't given me any reason to want to change.

[charmian]

I'm not surprised many people don't have the desire to upgrade their ebook readers. For many people, their needs are perfectly well satisfied by the ereader of two years ago. If you don't care about frontlighting or touch, the recent upgrades are not very exciting.

[xg4bx]

In general I normally wouldn't upgrade something unless it broke and I had to. Lately though the various lighted models have just started looking much more appealing to me than my Kindle keyboard with a bright enough to light up the room LED booklight for night reading.

Originally Posted by charmian

I'm not surprised many people don't have the desire to upgrade their ebook readers. For many people, their needs are perfectly well satisfied by the ereader of two years ago. If you don't care about frontlighting or touch, the recent upgrades are not very exciting.

[QuantumIguana]

Originally Posted by charmian

I'm not surprised many people don't have the desire to upgrade their ebook readers. For many people, their needs are perfectly well satisfied by the ereader of two years ago. If you don't care about frontlighting or touch, the recent upgrades are not very exciting.

I only upgraded to a Paperwhite when my K3 broke. I dropped it in just the wrong way, and the screen broke. I like my Paperwhite, but as long as I had a working K3, there just wasn't enough justification for a Paperwhite.

[soulfuldog]

Originally Posted by shanghaichica

I've very rarely benefited from use of Kobo's coupons. Most of the books I want do not get discounted and on a lot of occasions even with the discount applied, the book is still not cheaper than over on amazon, or is only a few pennies cheaper. I have to then ask myself for the sake of 5 or 10 p is it worth firing up my laptop and using adobe and calibre? At least in the UK, amazon are also good at price matching with kobo and other stores, so even if they have some kind of promotion on, I will probably be able to get the book at the same price from amazon within a few hours if not instantly.

That's my experience too. Also, there was a 30% off code for Sainsburysebooks posted recently (which worked on all books), but even with that discount the four books I was looking to buy at the same time worked out just about the same price buying them from Amazon.

Originally Posted by xg4bx

In general I normally wouldn't upgrade something unless it broke and I had to. Lately though the various lighted models have just started looking much more appealing to me than my Kindle keyboard with a bright enough to light up the room LED booklight for night reading.

I'm generally the same, I might want to upgrade but have to be able to give myself a convincing reason to do so! The attraction of the lighted readers was enough for me to give away my Kindle Keyboard and get the PW2 (well I requested it as a combined birthday/Christmas gift), and I really don't regret it at all.

I bought my Sony 350 for its size (and for library books), but still buy most of my books from Amazon , and even if I was to move away from a Kindle in future, I think I'd probably still buy most of my books from them.

[BearMountainBooks]

No, those results aren't surprising, BUT, I've seen more buyers at my blog store this past 6 months than in the past. I also sell more on Kobobooks than in the past. B&N sales actually went down this Christmas season, but I think that is problems with that retailer overall--a lack of marketing effort, a lack of a new product, etc. While they did step up some marketing for Christmas, it was late in the season and it was a limited kind of thing.

FWIW, I actually shop at other retailers more now than I used to. That is new for the last 6 months as well.

But yeah, most people stick within the walls.

[NickyWithNook]

I stay in walled gardens but use two of them - Amazon and B&N. I don't know how they'd count me.

[hardcastle]

I almost never upgrade something that works and continues to support new content.

As for where I buy books, I will aim for DRM free bookstores if the book I'm looking for is offered, Otherwise, it's immaterial, I'll basically just buy a DRM-infected book from whichever store is closest or which username/password I can remember.

[jersysman]

I'm not a "walled" person. Even though I do purchase a majority of ebooks from Amazon. I also use Kobo, Google, Diesel, and others. Whichever has the lowest price when I want to buy it, I will get it there. When I first had my Nook Color, I was strictly B&N. Then I got other readers and branched out. I can understand why most users stay within the "walls" because it's for the most part a lot easier to purchase books from where you bought the reader.

[faithbw]

I tend to buy from different vendors because having a tablet makes it easy to do. Sometimes, Amazon is cheaper but often Kobo is cheaper because of promo codes. I guess I read a lot of books where the promo code can be applied.

[tubemonkey]

Originally Posted by faithbw

I tend to buy from different vendors because having a tablet makes it easy to do. Sometimes, Amazon is cheaper but often Kobo is cheaper because of promo codes. I guess I read a lot of books where the promo code can be applied.

My favorite promo code is my library card number