E-Books

As Amazon no longer allows people to download e-books I would like to look at the collection of e-book readers that we could use today. We have Kindle, Nook, PocketBook, Kobo, iOS devices, Android devices, Tolino and more. In effect we could fill a book shelf with e-books if we wanted to. That’s because almost each ebook seller has their own device.

Amazon wants us to get a Kindle to read their books. Barnes and Nobel want us to get a Nook to read their books. Fnac wants us to get a Tolino device. Ebibliomedia encourages us to get a Pocketbook and others also want us to get their e-book reader. The result is that if you want to shop around to get the cheapest books you need to be ready with a number of e-readers. Instead of a book shelf filled with books you end up with a bookshelf filled with e-book readers instead.

By joining a book club and hearing people speak about borrowing books, rather than buying them I was at once asking myself the question “Why wouldn’t you buy a book when you can afford it?” and “Why wouldn’t you want to own the books you read?” Since then I have changed my mind.

Paid for Lending Libraries

As I wrote two or three days ago Audible, Kindle, Kobo and other platforms allow you to borrow books. Usually the cost is from 10-12 CHF except for Audible where the cost is over a hundred CHF per year.

There was a time when you got an Audible Subscription and you had access to 24 credits per year. You could choose 24 books per year. That’s a new book every two weeks. Eventually, after many years the plan and offer changed. You can now buy books from Audible, or you can borrow others from the Audlbe plus catalogue. In this manner you have access to thousands of books for “free”, as if you had a paying library membership.