Quote:
Originally Posted by charlestudor2005
But I normally read a book only once. Then it goes to the library or to a garage sale. I would prefer to be able to "gift" my ebook to someone else rather than keep it in archive.
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see my comment below
Quote:
Originally Posted by Mazomaniac
At $400 it's a pricey device for a lot of people .
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I just saw somekind of reader advertised on TV for $139. I don't know how much memory features etc. but I think that or even the magic $99 price point becomes much more doable to the average consumer.
Quote:
Originally Posted by atlcomedy
I'd be more concerned with the cost of the content (or what it will be in 2 years) vs. the hardware cost. If you can rent an all-you-can-eat buffet for $9/month for all kinds of original content via netflix, etc what is a fair price for an e-book?
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per CT's comment above the rental market really makes sense for most consumers, but save for the library, this never really was an option.
as an observer, my question is do these readers ever turn books/novels into a rental market (from the purchase model). Right now it clearly is a purchase model.
For example, a couple of months ago I needed to take an exam to get certification by another state to conduct business there. I purchased a study guide but instead of it being a hard bound book or set of 3 ring binders that would proudly sit on my bookshelf and collect dust it was 90 day access to the content online, password protected in a way that would make it difficult to share with others if I was so inclined. The cost was probably half of what the hardcopy study guide would have cost.
A final thought, I learned from some hard core Kindle users that you can as a small group (I think up to 4 or 5) share your books much in the same way cell phone companies have "friends & family" plans. It is semi-permanent and requires one person to put down a credit card that funds the overall account. So while that works well for a fixed group, you can't give a casual friend access to the book with a little cover note that says "thought you'd appreciate this" without purchasing the title again.