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Books are not too expensive

millersbookreview.com

21–30 of 216 posts

Re: Books are not too expensive

#21
Two days ago, I purchased Timothy Snyder's two most recent books from a local bookstore for $40. (On Tyranny & On Freedom) What should be cheaper are school and textbooks. Those seem priced like a racket.

Boycott Amazon, Buycott Local and support your neighbors

Re: Books are not too expensive

#22

Yes, I agree. Libgen, Scihub, Anna's Library, and Archive.org with de-DRM is completely free. If the fucks like Altman and ilk can run 'pirate everything and sell the proceeds', you damned right I'll pirate without selling anything. And I won't even feel bad. The professional pirates normally were charged criminally. Nope, now theyre too big to fail.

I'm sure all the small authors trying to feed themselves will be very impressed about your brave anti-Altman stance.

What better way to stand up to Sam Altman than doing exactly what he did?

Re: Books are not too expensive

#24

Can we get rid of hard cover books yet?

Not at all. Online DRMed or "streamed" books can be modified or deleted. Its kinda hard (aka impossible) to edit or delete a hardbound book on my bookshelf remotely.

Plus old books have the best aroma and page coloring

Re: Books are not too expensive

#25
post #20
post #4

The bigger problem for me is buying Ebooks without DRM, which are cheaper than the paperback. I see no reason why I should be paying the same (or often more) than the paperback version. Just let me buy the ebook and let me own it. Right now, after pirating it, I have to find the author's patreon / something and contribute some money that way. It shouldn't be this hard to give someone money.

Is it hard to buy non-DRM books? Well, if you bought Kindle, then I see, but... don't buy Kindle? There are plenty other options.

Where can I buy DRM free Anathem? The Road? Hunger Games?

Re: Books are not too expensive

#26
post #4

The bigger problem for me is buying Ebooks without DRM, which are cheaper than the paperback. I see no reason why I should be paying the same (or often more) than the paperback version. Just let me buy the ebook and let me own it. Right now, after pirating it, I have to find the author's patreon / something and contribute some money that way. It shouldn't be this hard to give someone money.

Calibre (though this is not so simple with Amazon ebooks since they disabled downloading books to your PC)

Re: Books are not too expensive

#27
If the price was the cause of people reading less, you’d expect to see libraries become overwhelmed with traffic.

I don’t read enough, but when I did I borrowed most books and only bought the ones I wanted to read again.

Re: Books are not too expensive

#28

At some point you just have to move to Ebooks. It's way cheaper (usually ~6x cheaper) and it's much more convenient, as you always have your entire library with you. Sometimes even in duplicate, i.e. on more than one device at the same time, in the same place. I was very reluctant to make the move at first, as I love everything about physical books -- their feel, the way they smell, the cover art -- but I was accumul…

> At some point you just have to move to Ebooks.

This is a parallel story for me to vinyl / streaming for music

There are some books and albums I want as physical artefacts, their aesthetic and tactile presence in my world means something more than just the content, you're right, the smell, the art, their feel

Then there are some that are _just_ content, they get streamed and bought as ebooks for just convienence and consumption

Re: Books are not too expensive

#29
post #15

At some point you just have to move to Ebooks. It's way cheaper (usually ~6x cheaper) and it's much more convenient, as you always have your entire library with you. Sometimes even in duplicate, i.e. on more than one device at the same time, in the same place. I was very reluctant to make the move at first, as I love everything about physical books -- their feel, the way they smell, the cover art -- but I was accumul…

Never. It never makes sense to me, why would I want to carry around another computer to read? Why can’t I unplug and enjoy my book? I tried it, it sucked and management was even worse.

Agreed. A bookshelf is great, and bookmarks are great. Cognitive load of using a tablet to load and flip through pages? Not so great

Re: Books are not too expensive

#30

Can we get rid of hard cover books yet?

Not if we want them to survive in a decent condition for more than a couple of decades, no.

Many new trade hardcover books will not last that long. I work at a university press, and we still use acid-free paper, quarter-cloth bindings, sturdy boards, and other niceties that the big trade houses are increasingly giving up on. Guess what? Most of our books cost more than $30, or even $40.
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