Kindle and kindle books vs actual books.

[MannequinsArePeopleToo]

Thought I'd have a look on Amazon at the Kindle range was about to press 'buy' when I decided to read some of the reviews. The ones which shocked me and has made me think twice is that the price of some ebooks is now equal to actual paperbacks. Actually ALL the books on my Amazon wish list are the same price on Kindle as they are in paper form. I'm disappointed. It wasn't always like that, I had one of the earlier Kindles and it was good because books were cheaper and there instantly (win-win).
My local/county library isn't great stock-wise and there's always a wait.

So basically, all I'd get for my money is a reader that allows me the experience of 'paper' like reading with night reading and other fancy gizmo stuff like font size etc?
Are they worth it? I want them to be but I fear they aren't. Are they?

I use my Kindle daily, but never pay for books.
I use Bookbub and basically just look at the blurb for any free books and "buy" any that take my fancy.
Plus occasional Kindle Unlimited offers (currently on a 3-month free offer).
I'm not bothered about specific books or new releases though.

My 6th gen paperwhite has basically given up and I'm having a new 12th gen for Christmas, in the meantime I'm using ds2 (as he doesn't) and have traded in mine for small value + 20% off a new one.

Yes, none of those things bother me in the slightest so the app is much better than an actual kindle as I don't have to carry two things around.

For a long time I almost exclusively read using a Kindle. That suited me as I had a train commute at the time, but gradually I seemed to be reading less and less. I no longer have the commute and have gone back to hard copy books, and read more than ever. That said, I didn't have a issue with paying more for new releases I wanted to read. I very rarely re-read anyway so I tend not to keep a book once I've read it. So even when I buy a hard copy, I consider myself to be paying primarily for the content rather than the vessel containing it.

I was an early adopter of kindle starting with the button keyboard. For many years I read both but over the last three years I find I strongly dislike reading paper books and almost never re-read.
I've cleared out 1000s of books and I don't miss the clutter at all. I have a couple of the shelves of books but whenever I pick one up I put it back for my Kindle.

A proper kindle, not the tablet variety, is very similar to a book but better. It's light, easy on the eyes, you can adjust font size, you can highlight and write notes.
Yes books are more expensive but I rarely pay full price. I subscribe to a website that tracks prices and buy them on offer. I have prime which gives access to come free books on loan. Although in reality they are all on loan because you can't give them away.
You can share a library with a family member which works if you have similar taste.

i only use it in the Bath now- as I can enlarge the font so don’t need my glasses on!

As I have got older I find I don't need to use my glasses with my tablet. Something to look forward to? 😂

Although I would dearly love to be able to read in the bath again sadly my knees won't allow it. I can get in but getting out is a real problem😭

Well. So it seems my DD and DS have bought me the Kindle signature for Christmas in the black Friday sale! DS had to tell me yesterday because I was about to buy it.
Now we all have to do the pretending I don't know what they've done but I am very excited and I have a growing list of books I want to download.
Yay!!!

Does anyone else use ereaderiq, the UK version? It lets you track books by title or author so you can buy them if their prices drop.

Yes I use it. It's really great and I manage to get lots of my favourite writers when they drop a price.

I love my kindle so much.

But a lot is that I read a lot (around 100 books a year) and physical books just pile up and I read on the go a lot

There are some books that I want to read, which are available only on Kindle as they’re out of print and not available secondhand. I mostly listen to books on BookBeat but I do buy secondhand golden age detective fiction and then re-donate it back to Oxfam, usually, because they just get to be too much to store.

At the moment, the ones that I want are around £11 for 4 or 5 books, which seems to be ok to me. But I’ve never yet actually read books on the Kindle app on my iPad. I wouldn’t buy a Kindle, though. Or at least I don’t think I would. Perhaps I might be tempted.

I have a Kindle paperwhite which I use almost every day now. I also have a Kobo but haven't used it as much (I will, just not yet used to it but I'm getting there).

For me they are now invaluable, not because of the price of the books, but because as I am getting older I find the ability to expand the size of the font very helpful. I can then read it so much more easily. I also like that they can be read in the dark and in relatively low light. None of those functions are possible with a traditional paper book, which I do still love, but am starting to struggle a bit with.

E-readers are also very lightweight and can contain hundreds of books. I think I'll rely on them a lot more going forward. I also like being able to get my next read downloaded immediately rather than either having to go to a bookshop or wait for delivery.

For me it isn't the price of the books, that's often very similar to the price of a paper copy now, as you say. It's the convenience and the ease of reading.

I recommend borrowbox. You can borrow books from the library. The only downside is that it can feel limited in choice!

@Topseyt123 I use my kindle mostly but I have an old kobo that I just use for library books. You can download them onto a kobo but not a kindle. You can also use a tablet but I prefer a proper e-reader.

As an Amazon Prime member I borrow books - up to six at a time. Can’t remember last time I paid for one. Well known authors and best sellers too.

Agree with all this! Checking the kindle daily deals with my morning coffee takes seconds and is part of my routine. I set a wishlist for.books I want - making sure I add kindle versions - then you can check it regularly and sort by price low-high. I don't pay more than £1.99 for a book (that's if the author is v popular, usually I pay 99p).

I have kindle unlimited as the kids love it, the selection is much better on there than it used to be.

I almost solely read on kindle now, it's so much easier.

My main reason for having a Kindle is storage, not price - I can't keep a couple of thousand books in the house, as there's not enough space.
Also you never weigh down your suitcase with books on holiday - or run out.
With a Kindle in your handbag, you've always got something to do on a train, in a cafe, waiting etc.
I do prefer paper books, but practicality wins out.

I have a very old Sony ereader (now taken over by Kobo). I can still buy and download ebooks from Hive books (but not Kobo weirdly!). Can also download loads of classics free from Project Gutenberg.

Yes, I got a Kobo for using the library and it is done via Libby. However, the selection available from my local library (Essex Libraries) seemed very small and disappointing. I will look again soon to see whether they have improved it.

I also like to check out the deals available by other vendors, which can differ sometimes from Kindle (Amazon).

Yes the library offerings are limited. I did find that I could join the library at a nearby city as well and they have a few more books.

Thought I’d always be a ‘real book’ person, but got a kindle and haven’t looked back. I get daily emails from ‘Bookbub’ which suggests books for 99p. Only pay more due to it being our book club selection. I dip in and out of unlimited, as I realised it was cheaper to buy the 99p books, then subscribe monthly. However, if the book is more expensive and on Unlimited, I’ll subscribe again.

My Paperwhite is brilliant for reading in bed and for holidays, and I have never paid full price for a Kindle book. Everything on there is a 99p deal, and is mostly quite lightweight reading. There are also some cook books which I use on my iPad

I still buy a lot of physical books

Price does depend on what you read, popular books are no cheaper on the kindle but there are lots of cheap ones if you look, some are very readable , many are not , but at least you can try before you buy thanks to the sample option. I do prefer an actual book, but the kindles definitely useful for looking at lots of options without buying

Not bought a paperback for years.

I keep a list of books I want to read and once they drop below £5 I buy them.

I also dont buy them as such but use TopCashback to buy house/car etc insurance, gifts etc then exchange my money for Amazon gift cards and buy them that way. This year I’ve had £389 via TopCashback which has funded all of my Kindle books (I do still have £60 of that left)