Pricing and Policies ... what is fair?

[Timboli]

Originally Posted by murraypaul

You can de-register the Kindle for PC application from your account and re-register it to a different one as many times as you like (at least I have never hit a limit). Tools->Options->Registration. Each time you do it it removes any downloaded books from the previous account, so you can only be actively using one at a time, but if you are importing them into Calibre anyway that doesn't matter.

That is true, but alas when you de-register you do lose all your previous ebook downloads in the program, as you say, so not something you lightly engage in when that is a few hundred let alone thousands as in my case.

All my ebooks from Amazon are listed in Kindle For PC, the only place of mine where that is the case, and it would be ridiculous to me to give that up. Many of those ebooks get updates too.

So not a simple matter to toggle between accounts, especially if you have come across, like I have, issues over de-registering and ebook limit per devices.

And because Kindle For PC is my default device, that would need to be taken into account every time I buy an ebook from Amazon.

While calibre is great in some regards, it certainly fails in others, visual with covers being one real obvious one. Another for me certainly, is how the ebooks are organized. With Kindle For PC I can have ebooks listed in more than one collection (just pointers or shortcuts, not the actual ebook), something I have found painful to do in calibre. To those ends I have been developing a companion to calibre.

[Sirtel]

Originally Posted by Timboli

While calibre is great in some regards, it certainly fails in others, visual with covers being one real obvious one.

Calibre has both a cover browser and a cover grid, and they can be toggled on and off with just a click. You don't have to use the list view in Calibre, unless you want to.

[MGlitch]

Originally Posted by Sirtel

Calibre has both a cover browser and a cover grid, and they can be toggled on and off with just a click. You don't have to use the list view in Calibre, unless you want to.

But it’s unfair that people who want cover displays have to click while those who like list view don’t. And it’s brave to speak ill of Calibre to the point that people are afraid to do so.

For some people the grass is never green enough.

[MGlitch]

Originally Posted by Timboli

Gawd, you do like getting muddled up ... or is that deliberate, and a perfect example of why I am often forced to repeat myself. I am forced to that by willful blindness ... no doubt some agenda.

So as to fairness, I am asking not telling. It is not my place to make such a determination, that would be pure arrogance, something there is too much of by some others here already. I am entitled though, just like everyone is, to decide for myself if what has been determined by others as being fair, is fair to my mind ... going by the reasoning of facts & figures etc provided.

However, when something is clearly unfair, going by the comparative evidence, of course it is perfectly logical and normal for any of us to declare such.

Yes you asked what a fair price was, surprise people want to hear your answer to the same question.

You claim you want discussion but shut down any discussion with either inaccurate claims or semi paranoid statements which seem to indicate the publishers or someone is out to get you when they disagree with you.

[ZodWallop]

Originally Posted by Timboli

Gawd, you do like getting muddled up ... or is that deliberate, and a perfect example of why I am often forced to repeat myself. I am forced to that by willful blindness ... no doubt some agenda.

The Big 5 cabal pays me well to shill for them on forums such as this

So as to fairness, I am asking not telling. It is not my place to make such a determination, that would be pure arrogance, something there is too much of by some others here already. I am entitled though, just like everyone is, to decide for myself if what has been determined by others as being fair, is fair to my mind ... going by the reasoning of facts & figures etc provided.

However, when something is clearly unfair, going by the comparative evidence, of course it is perfectly logical and normal for any of us to declare such.

I can't help but notice you completely sidestepped answering my question. So I'll ask it again:

What do you consider fair? You talk a lot about 'fair pricing', but what in dollars and cents is fair?

I've listed some books below. Please, advise what you consider to be the one true fair price for each:

The Institute by Stephen King
(A new Big 5 release by an internationally successful author)

The Golden Compass/Northern Lights by Philip Pullman
(A backlist, but perpetually popular book)

War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy, Pevear/Volokhonsky Translation
(A public domain book, but newly translated into English)

Hellstrom's Hive by Frank Herbert
(A more obscure book by a deceased but popular author)

Under A Raging Moon by Frank Zafiro
(A self published book by an indie author)

[MGlitch]

Originally Posted by ZodWallop

The Big 5 cabal pays me well to shill for them on forums such as this

Hey, are they hiring? I could use some extra money to make up for buying a second forma

[Sirtel]

Originally Posted by MGlitch

Hey, are they hiring? I could use some extra money to make up for buying a second forma

Psst... I should probably keep my mouth shut, but I bought my new Libra for what they paid me, so I'd say everywhere I find them fair and have no problems. Like I did in this thread.

[Timboli]

Originally Posted by Sirtel

Calibre has both a cover browser and a cover grid, and they can be toggled on and off with just a click. You don't have to use the list view in Calibre, unless you want to.

I am well aware of calibre's alternate views, and their limits, but I wasn't attacking calibre.

I use calibre for the practical aspect of my ebooks, and other software for the visual. The right tool for the right job.

It might be somewhat different if I was using v4.x of calibre, but as my main calibre libraries are on my old offline Win XP PC, it is not possible.

I only use this PC, which is Win 7, to process my ebooks before transferring them to my Win XP PC and backup drives. So very temporary, and I am using v3.x of calibre. So the only full copy of my ebook library, on this my web connection PC (just kindle ebooks), is in Kindle For PC.

No doubt I will eventually get around to using latest calibre on a new PC one day, and then I can revisit whether it is possible for calibre to be both great practically as well as visually, at the same time. But once again, still not going to help, because my libraries are on my old Win XP PC.

But thanks for the advice. I am sure it will help someone here.

[DNSB]

Originally Posted by MGlitch

But it’s unfair that people who want cover displays have to click while those who like list view don’t. And it’s brave to speak ill of Calibre to the point that people are afraid to do so.

For some people the grass is never green enough.

I have to agree that it's unfair that calibre does not read your mind during installation to set cover or list view as the default. To the pillory with Kovid!

But then, it's also unfair that once you switch to cover grid, you have to click again to switch back to list view even if I close calibre and re-open it. It's unfair that calibre does not show as many books in cover grid as it does in list view. It's unfair that you can't see the series information without having to hover over a cover image. It's unfair that custom columns aren't visible in cover view.

Green grass? That's enough to make you not believe in a deity otherwise grass would be blue.

Now for an attempt to pay a modicum of respect to the topic of this thread:

A fair price for a book? Whatever I am willing to pay for it. If I think the price isn't fair, I don't buy it until and if it goes on sale for a price that I consider fair.

[Sirtel]

Originally Posted by Timboli

No doubt I will eventually get around to using latest calibre on a new PC one day, and then I can revisit whether it is possible for calibre to be both great practically as well as visually, at the same time. But once again, still not going to help, because my libraries are on my old Win XP PC.

Um... is there a reason why they have to stay on that old PC? Of course it's not my business where you keep your libraries, it just sounds pretty strange. Like something's stopping you from keeping them on a newer PC.

[exaltedwombat]

Originally Posted by Sirtel

Um... is there a reason why they have to stay on that old PC?

The eBook world seems disproportionately inhabited by vintage computer enthusiasts. Not sure whether I find it charming or sad :-)

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by Timboli

I am well aware of calibre's alternate views, and their limits, but I wasn't attacking calibre.

I use calibre for the practical aspect of my ebooks, and other software for the visual. The right tool for the right job.

It might be somewhat different if I was using v4.x of calibre, but as my main calibre libraries are on my old offline Win XP PC, it is not possible.

I only use this PC, which is Win 7, to process my ebooks before transferring them to my Win XP PC and backup drives. So very temporary, and I am using v3.x of calibre. So the only full copy of my ebook library, on this my web connection PC (just kindle ebooks), is in Kindle For PC.

No doubt I will eventually get around to using latest calibre on a new PC one day, and then I can revisit whether it is possible for calibre to be both great practically as well as visually, at the same time. But once again, still not going to help, because my libraries are on my old Win XP PC.

But thanks for the advice. I am sure it will help someone here.

XP is dead. At least upgrade it to Windows 7 (almost dead).

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by MGlitch

But it’s unfair that people who want cover displays have to click while those who like list view don’t. And it’s brave to speak ill of Calibre to the point that people are afraid to do so.

For some people the grass is never green enough.

No, it's not unfair. It's perfectly fair to default to the most used view. If cover view was the most used view I would expect that to b h default and If wanted list view, I would just change the view.

You have to start someplace. Would you really expect cover view to be the default given list view is more used?

As for fair, I find the price of a lot new eBooks to be over-the-top. That's why I use Overdrive and other online library services to get content to read or listen to.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by exaltedwombat

The eBook world seems disproportionately inhabited by vintage computer enthusiasts. Not sure whether I find it charming or sad :-)

What I find silly is people running an old version of Windows and not wanting to upgrade and then complaining about Calibre. People who run Windows 7 or XP have had plenty of time to save up to get another computer. It's almost 4 years since Windows 10 was released. If at that time you have a computer you feel cannot run Windows 10, then you could have saved up. $15 a month from when Window 10 was released would now have enough money to buy a good computer. $10 a month when when Windows came out and you'd have enough for a good computer.

So really,you've all had time to save to get a computer that can run Windows 10 well. So I do not feel for you because you did nothing. Especially when a lot of them buy multiple readers that are not cheap.

[issybird]

It’s never a good idea to judge someone else’s finances and priorities.

That said, some of these responses are tongue in cheek.