Books Take Another Arrow to the Knee

[Asteriktos]

Though I should have said, a couple posts back, that they said in the one article (that I linked to) that they were closing about 15 stores per year over the last decade--so to go to 20 is worse but not exactly a catastrophe. And I must admit that I buy most of my books from amazon. I don't have any of the new-fangled e-readers yet. I should probably get one though. I've already resorted to printing (short) books out on my printer. Probably would have been cheaper to just buy the book, for all the ink I used. Now I'm rambling.

[Arachne]

I love my Kindle. I read much faster on it, it allows me to carry several books with me (crucial when I'm on holiday), puts my ever-expanding PDF library to good use, as I dislike reading on the computer screen, and saves me storage space. I love physical books, especially used ones, but there's only so many of those that can fit in a house before the people have to vacate it.

[Gebre Menfes Kidus]

I love my Kindle Fire. But for serious reading I still prefer a real book. I make notes, underline, etc. Even though Kindle has the capacity to make notes and highlite things, it's just not the same. Also, I just really enjoy the feel of an actual book. Books have a way of making us feel connected to the ages before us. Thousands of years ago, there was no radio, TV, movies, or internet, but there were words on paper. So, there's just something mystical about books to me. But I enjoy my Kindle for light reading that I can do in the dark while I am going to sleep.


Selam

[choy]

I love my Kindle Fire. But for serious reading I still prefer a real book. I make notes, underline, etc. Even though Kindle has the capacity to make notes and highlite things, it's just not the same. Also, I just really enjoy the feel of an actual book. Books have a way of making us feel connected to the ages before us. Thousands of years ago, there was no radio, TV, movies, or internet, but there were words on paper. So, there's just something mystical about books to me. But I enjoy my Kindle for light reading that I can do in the dark while I am going to sleep.


Selam

Thousands of years ago thery mostly wrote on stone or leather.  While there is paper, its not as widely used and not widely available as well.  Wasn't the Jewish scrolls on leather?  It also would seem to preserve better than paper, especially if you travel around with it.

[Asteriktos]

I think thousands of years ago (BCE) they used mostly non-paper/book materials, e.g. papyrus scrolls. I seem to remember reading that Christians always preferred paper in book form though, even if it wasn't widely available as a material like it is now.

[dcommini]

For those who love to read on their computers, iphones or ipads you can get a program to ease the strain on your eyes.

F.lux changes your screen to more accurately mimic the current lighting. They have a version for Windows, Mac, Linux, and iOS - nothing yet for Android. My wife uses this on her Windows machine and she loves it since she does massive amounts of reading for her school work via her laptop.

Another program that does the same thing is Redshift (mainly for Linux but they do have a beta for Windows). This is the one I use on my Linux machine and it works great!

Just thought I would post this information for those who love to read but can not stand the strain of bright screens.

[choy]

Certainly there's pros and cons both ways.  My biggest fear is that if Amazon folds, what happens to my e-books?  Do I have to go through the great lengths of having to recover the files on my tablet and move it around to other devices and possibly look for other e-readers to read them with?  But certainly there are a lot of convenience right now attached to having electronic copies.

I wish I can have the right to purchase a paper copy for a significantly reduced price if I already own the e-book.

[Achronos]

Certainly there's pros and cons both ways.  My biggest fear is that if Amazon folds, what happens to my e-books?  Do I have to go through the great lengths of having to recover the files on my tablet and move it around to other devices and possibly look for other e-readers to read them with?  But certainly there are a lot of convenience right now attached to having electronic copies.

I wish I can have the right to purchase a paper copy for a significantly reduced price if I already own the e-book.

Amazon.com will probably never fold. They are becoming a lot like Walmart IMO.

You have to understand that brick-and-mortar places like Best Buy, B&N, Sears, etc are probably going to all close soon enough.

You just cannot compete with online prices.

Best Buy should probably do an online-only model and compete with amazon.com on prices, but I think it might be too little too late at this point.

Honestly though:

Paper > ebook editions everytime.

The reason is the ebook versions are almost always inferior, especially when it comes to translated works. There's lots of grammar problems, syntax, and just a lot of other errors.

Just look at some amazon.com reviews on popular books in the Kindle format, all I see have been uniformly 1 star reviews.

Anyway I'm sure there is a comparision on some blog out there, but I don't have the time. Gotta go.

[choy]

Certainly there's pros and cons both ways.  My biggest fear is that if Amazon folds, what happens to my e-books?  Do I have to go through the great lengths of having to recover the files on my tablet and move it around to other devices and possibly look for other e-readers to read them with?  But certainly there are a lot of convenience right now attached to having electronic copies.

I wish I can have the right to purchase a paper copy for a significantly reduced price if I already own the e-book.

Amazon.com will probably never fold. They are becoming a lot like Walmart IMO.

You have to understand that brick-and-mortar places like Best Buy, B&N, Sears, etc are probably going to all close soon enough.

You just cannot compete with online prices.

Best Buy should probably do an online-only model and compete with amazon.com on prices, but I think it might be too little too late at this point.

Honestly though:

Paper > ebook editions everytime.

The reason is the ebook versions are almost always inferior, especially when it comes to translated works. There's lots of grammar problems, syntax, and just a lot of other errors.

Just look at some amazon.com reviews on popular books in the Kindle format, all I see have been uniformly 1 star reviews.

Anyway I'm sure there is a comparision on some blog out there, but I don't have the time. Gotta go.

Best Buy is already moving to an online-only model.  They closed a lot of stores here in British Columbia just last week.  And I'm surprised they now offer more things than just electronics online, they even have furniture and baby products (cribs, car seats, strollers, etc.)

Even that, its no guarantee that Amazon will not fold, given how things change so quickly these days.

[TheMathematician]

Certainly there's pros and cons both ways.  My biggest fear is that if Amazon folds, what happens to my e-books?  Do I have to go through the great lengths of having to recover the files on my tablet and move it around to other devices and possibly look for other e-readers to read them with?  But certainly there are a lot of convenience right now attached to having electronic copies.

I wish I can have the right to purchase a paper copy for a significantly reduced price if I already own the e-book.

Amazon.com will probably never fold. They are becoming a lot like Walmart IMO.

You have to understand that brick-and-mortar places like Best Buy, B&N, Sears, etc are probably going to all close soon enough.

You just cannot compete with online prices.

Best Buy should probably do an online-only model and compete with amazon.com on prices, but I think it might be too little too late at this point.

Honestly though:

Paper > ebook editions everytime.

The reason is the ebook versions are almost always inferior, especially when it comes to translated works. There's lots of grammar problems, syntax, and just a lot of other errors.

Just look at some amazon.com reviews on popular books in the Kindle format, all I see have been uniformly 1 star reviews.

Anyway I'm sure there is a comparision on some blog out there, but I don't have the time. Gotta go.

Best Buy is already moving to an online-only model.  They closed a lot of stores here in British Columbia just last week.  And I'm surprised they now offer more things than just electronics online, they even have furniture and baby products (cribs, car seats, strollers, etc.)

Even that, its no guarantee that Amazon will not fold, given how things change so quickly these days.

That's why, if i can, i prefer to read books in .pdf files, if they are sold.

[choy]

That's why, if i can, i prefer to read books in .pdf files, if they are sold.

Well, for us who do have Kindle-format books, we just have to hope that we can continue to use those books in the even that Amazon folds.

[Arachne]

I'm just happy most of my Kindle books are converted from other formats (or products of friendly file sharing).

[Achronos]

Don't know about Canada, but here in the Red White and Blue they operate a lot of Best Buys still and depend on a retail model for revenue.

But consumers have smartened up and getting better sales/deals online.

I buy everything online, unless I HAVE to have it the day I want it.

The only thing I don't buy online are shoes.

Clothes is a maybe, unless I try it on at a store first.

It's not surprising to see BB offer more than just electronics.

If you look at the margin of profit on electronic items, it's very small. About 6% on average. But if you can have products with a higher margin, then you might as well do it.

Although I don't think furniture is going to be that big of a return IMO.

[choy]

Don't know about Canada, but here in the Red White and Blue they operate a lot of Best Buys still and depend on a retail model for revenue.

But consumers have smartened up and getting better sales/deals online.

I buy everything online, unless I HAVE to have it the day I want it.

The only thing I don't buy online are shoes.

Clothes is a maybe, unless I try it on at a store first.

It's not surprising to see BB offer more than just electronics.

If you look at the margin of profit on electronic items, it's very small. About 6% on average. But if you can have products with a higher margin, then you might as well do it.

Although I don't think furniture is going to be that big of a return IMO.

Depends on the particular item.  I worked at Best Buy head office before.  TVs, the margins aren't that big (in terms of percentage).  But ever wonder why they keep pushing you to buy those Monster Cables?  The actual cost of those things are only 10% of the retail price.  So a $70 HDMI cable is only $7 cost for them.

As for books, I think e-books are a bit "overpriced".  Given that there is cost to digitalize the book, the price difference between the regular book and e-book isn't that huge to say that I am mostly paying for the copyright to own the book.  I mean, you digitalize it once and distribute forever.  I guess that is one of the nice things with e-books too, if its available, it's always available.  They don't run out of copies.

[Hinterlander]

Watch this and appreciate how books were made (and can still be!)

This video follows the process of making books the old fashioned way in this case a reprint of the pictures from a class Websters reference set.

Peace.

http://vimeo.com/5228616

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