Film, literature and music on your shelf - thing of the past?

[merithyn]

Well, we (the elite) need a stock of workers ala the morlocks (just hope they don't come to run things ala the morlocks.) My daughter for example is going to need people from the grunt-class to clean her house, do her landscaping etc.

I'm not sure poor eyesight will force the kids into manual labor, though I'm pretty sure they won't be Top Gun flyers.

[OttoVonBismarck]

Well, we (the elite) need a stock of workers ala the morlocks (just hope they don't come to run things ala the morlocks.) My daughter for example is going to need people from the grunt-class to clean her house, do her landscaping etc.

Won't she have sold the house in order to get her meth fix?

Please. If my daughter ever gets into drugs it better not be something as low class as meth. Better be cocaine proper or some such.

[Eddie Teach]

Isn't your disapproval kinda the point 

[Sheilbh]

Oh another thing that I find frustrating with the Kindle is that I still have to pay over a tenner for a 'hard-back' Kindle edition. I get why they charge like that but it's really irritating given that cost and immediacy are the biggest advantages

[Syt]

One of the main reasons I mostly go with hardcopy over kindle version on Amazon. The price advantage is not huge.

E.g., looking at some bestsellers:

Cloud Atlas (English): €6.99 paperback/€6.29 kindle (same prices as The Hobbit, btw)
Hunger Games box set (English): €17.50 paperback/€19.12 kindle (WTF??)
50 Shades of Grey: €12.99/€10.99
No Easy Day: The Only First-hand Account of the Navy Seal Mission that Killed Osama bin Laden: €16.95/€12.30 (hardcover €15.95??)

Etc.

In average it seems that kindle prices are less than 25% below the hardcopy price. Also, Germany and Austria have book price control, i.e. books by German publishers can only be sold at the price the publisher sets so there's no sales/competition, really. In its early years over here, Amazon used to give book vouchers to their customers - they had to stop doing that as it was considered an illegal discount.

For foreign published books like English imports this doesn't apply, and I've often found the English versions are cheaper than the German ones, thanks to favorable exchange rates.

[Sheilbh]

We don't have minimum pricing laws but you get similar silliness over here with new books. For example the Nate Silver hardback is in the January sales for £12.50 and before that was around £18-9 I think. The Kindle edition (because it's still in hardback) is £14.99.

So if there's a new book I really want I almost always end up getting the hardback because there's normally not a major price difference with the Kindle.

[mongers]

We don't have minimum pricing laws but you get similar silliness over here with new books. For example the Nate Silver hardback is in the January sales for £12.50 and before that was around £18-9 I think. The Kindle edition (because it's still in hardback) is £14.99.

So if there's a new book I really want I almost always end up getting the hardback because there's normally not a major price difference with the Kindle.

Yes I find the kindle pricing somewhat odd.

You know you could always waite 6-12 months until the paperback comes out/the kinlde price settlers lower ?

[Zanza]

I travel quite a bit, so a Kindle is much more convenient than actually carrying books around.

And most books I buy seem to be a bit cheaper than the physical version.

[Neil]

Well, we (the elite) need a stock of workers ala the morlocks (just hope they don't come to run things ala the morlocks.) My daughter for example is going to need people from the grunt-class to clean her house, do her landscaping etc.

Won't she have sold the house in order to get her meth fix?

Please. If my daughter ever gets into drugs it better not be something as low class as meth. Better be cocaine proper or some such.

I think the point is to rebel though.  The same reason she'll be hooking up with someone terrible and getting those stupid ear-stretching rings and facial tattoos.

[The Minsky Moment]

We don't have minimum pricing laws but you get similar silliness over here with new books. For example the Nate Silver hardback is in the January sales for £12.50 and before that was around £18-9 I think. The Kindle edition (because it's still in hardback) is £14.99.

So if there's a new book I really want I almost always end up getting the hardback because there's normally not a major price difference with the Kindle.

One problem right off the bat is that the pound is still worth too much.
You Brits keep getting the shaft paying dollar prices but in sterling.

[derspiess]

I think the point is to rebel though.  The same reason she'll be hooking up with someone terrible and getting those stupid ear-stretching rings and facial tattoos.

Bleh.  Wonder what they'll do next-- stretching out their lips with plates?>