Or any other e-book reader, really. It’s not the fault of the Kindle itself, but rather how some publishers are handling it.
Goes like this: I read recently an article about James M Cain that made me say, Hmm. I’ve never actually read him, and this guy thinks that a couple of his books are downright amazing. True, it’s the Atlantic saying that, but Hollywood made movies out of said books that are supposed to be really good, back when Hollywood wasn’t filtering everything for ideological bias.
So I decided to go look up The Postman Always Rings Twice on Kindle… and it’s ten bucks. Well. That’s… pretty expensive for the format, really. What are my alternatives? Well, see for yourselves:
So. Ten bucks is too much for the text of a commonly-available-in-libraries book, even if it is instant access. And almost six bucks ($1.63 for the cheapest paperback option, plus $3.99 for shipping) is too much for a takes-up-physical-space version of the same book sent to me three or four days from now, considering that I’m a little sensitized to costs after seeing the too-high Kindle price. If the Kindle book had been five bucks, or even six, I’d have bought it already and be reading it right now instead of writing this post. Instead, I’ve decided that it’s easier just to wait until the next time I’m at the library.
Continue reading The trouble with Kindles.