"Kindle Unlimited - Do We Need to "Own" Historical Books Any More?" Topic

For those who are not aware, Amazon now offers the Kindle Unlimited service – for about $10 USD per month, access to over 1 million titles that are in the Kindle library. These can be read on the Kindle readers, or on any computer or device that has the Kindle app.

Does this make "owning books" obsolete?

Why spend money on physical or digital books, when you can get them all* for a low monthly fee?

* depending on if the books one is interested in are available in the Kindle library of 1 million titles

I want to hold a book in my handle when I sit in my chair and nod off. Seriously, I like books. Of course, if you can get them on Kindle as opposed to spending a fortune on an out-of-print book you want but cannot afford, that is great!

Solid book owner here.

The net is great for research,but if I want to do some real reading then I need a real book.

But the folks at Amazon are not very honest about what you can get with those offers.

My husband got the first deal they offered, and then he found you could only get 2nd rate books no one was interested in.

Yes, of course I need to own books, and no need for the quotation marks.
First, because I need actual maps, and not blurs spread over several pages.
Second, because if I'm doing any serious reading, I have a bookmark in the narrative, another one at the map and a third at the order of battle. If things are really tricky, there might be a fourth at the appropriate point in the endnotes. Try doing that with a kindle. Just try.
Third because scanning a kindle book to find a passage is an exercise in frustration.
And fourth and most important, when I own the book, I know it's not going to mysteriously blip out of my library, and the text will be the same next week.
I love my kindle. I pay for Amazon Prime. I might pay $120 USD a year for expanded access. But I don't care to give the publisher of the Washington Post control of my library. As the British say, he has form.

Does this make "owning books" obsolete?

No, I have no desire to end up like this:

Max Headroom clip.

Ron

I prefer 'real books'.

No. Because you don't own Kindle books. In 2009 there was a copyright claim on 1984 and Animal Farm sold for Kindle. Amazon simply removed them from people's devices. No warning, nothing. Amazon says they won't do it again. How much do you trust a corporation?

I vastly prefer books over digital.

I love my Kindle paperwhite, and I love kindle unlimited. Calling them all second-rate books is a bit broad of a generalization. In any event, the library will continue to improve, just like Netflix and Amazon Prime video.

To be honest, I rarely read anything unless it is on my Kindle, and I prefer PDFs of wargames rules on my IPad. I'm simplifying my life these days, and I've hauled off crates of stuff to Half Price Books. It's a great feeling.

What a silly question, and what Robert said.

Yes, some books are better as hardcopy. Though I do buy ebooks I want to keep and reread, including Kindle books, so I store them in my Calibre library, from which amazon cannot take them back…

I enjoy reading on my Kindle because I can make the font size larger. The maps are still a problem though.

Yes.
Jericho Smith +1

I go for Kindle and books. Was channel hopping and got to the movie Midway and they were showing a launch and I thought the aircraft were F6F not F4F and so I went and looked up the F4F in my reference books. Was reading a story about a book written in 1910 about an invasion of England so I went and ordered it on Kindle.

If you get enough books on Kindle have fun trying to find the book much less a reference in it.

Both. Kindle is for reading on the move. Books are for digging deep, re-reading and yes, sticking bookmarks in to jump around as the paper moves under your fingertips.

You can read books by firelight. When the lights go out tablets will just be coasters.

Never had the battery run out on a book. I also want to own what I've paid for, that's why I buy books not e-books and use Paintshop Pro not PhotoShop.

Lotsa luddites round here. I buy Kindle books whenever possible, I do not go with the unlimited route however. Sure the battery can go out on a kindle (though mine never has) but a single kindle holds my entire book collection and a large number of videos. It is also perfect for reading on the cramped seats of an airplane.

I prefer novels on Kindle, actually anything that I plan to read front to back once and be done with it. But, if it is something I plan to do research with, I prefer a real book.

It will be great until the first EMP hits.

Physical Books are great till that fire hits.

Like DrSkull. Novels on Kindle, history in real books.

Books made of paper do it for me

Both have their place. There are advantages and disadvantages to each, but I like and use both. I will sometimes get digital copies and hard copies of the same thing.

Kindle is great for reading when it's dark or I'm away from home, but not so good for quickly jumping around from one place to another. Also, not so good for maps, which are typically a key feature of history books.

Regular books/rules are better for those things and for sharing with friends, but are heavy and take up a lot of space.

I also have both. Probably 4000 plus books. Several 100 kindle books. Most are military history. Many were free. I bought a load of Ospreys for a buck or two. Several books run 20 bucks in paper and 2 or 3 bucks for kindle. I do agree about doing a search for a place in a kindle book. Not going to happen. Although a kindle will give yo a word definition on any word and a few other things. I'd NEVER give up my paper versions. But it is cool to walk around with 300 hundred or so books to read when I want.

Thanks,

John

Kindle is great for late night reading when the wife is sleeping! e-books are great for the reasons people note, my issue is with the formatting of reference books – try reading an Osprey on a paperwhite for that I prefer the physical book.

I cherish my Public Library system.

Unlimited Kindle reminds me of Netflix in that what is offered is mostly second rate. I'll keep my books and continue buying more.

I do like having Kindle on my phone though. I allows me to have something to read while waiting in line.

Sergeant Paper:

Yes, some books are better as hardcopy. Though I do buy ebooks I want to keep and reread, including Kindle books, so I store them in my Calibre library, from which amazon cannot take them back…

More information on what and HOW to do this would be greatly appreciated!

I have books from when I was a kid ( so 45 years for oldest) I have no faith in electronics, My original Kindle was dropped anc died. My Samsung tablet is working on its 2nd year but it won't last forever either. For serious reference books I would rather have hard copies, messed up ordering Russian Officer Corp and its on my tablet but intended to get it in a book.

My original Kindle was dropped anc died.

But wouldn't affect your library on Kindle. It's still there waiting for you.

Books only for me. The books are in my hobby room and used for painting references constantly. I can't imagine having my library of Osprey books on a kindle.

I am not sure I bought any books outright on my Kindle but have a bunch on my Tablet.

Print books have the advantage that they can't be changed (once printed)by accident or malice – you may not remember that Microsoft maintained for several years (Encarta) that the Austrians and New Zealanders landed at Gallipoli in 1915, not an Australian in sight.

Calibre is an app that can convert most electronic book formats into most other e-book formats. Looks like they are continuing to improve it with some sort of archiving. So it can convert a basic .pdf into a .mobi (also used as native mode by Kindle) which gives you easy bookmarking.

Of course, you should back up all electronic documents to a separate hard drive that is only plugged in to update your archive, so the next malware attack doesn't wipe your library.

> I am not sure I bought any books outright on my Kindle but have a bunch on my Tablet.

Simple backups take care of the problem if they are not part of your Kindle library. I've got stuff backed up on my computer, Kindle Fire, phone, and a memory stick.

Dynaman, as one of the "Luddites," my first kindle was white, had a keyboard and controls right and left. How far back does your first kindle go?

Actually, we're early. In 20 or 30 years, I might be able to have my reference material project the narrative the map and the OOB all at once in front of me, which will be better than a book. But we're not there yet.

Do note the endurance problem, though. Try to take your data saved on a 3.5" diskette and read it on your computer. And you don't want to think how much historical information is saved on punchcards.

My century-old books still read just fine.

One of our people had heard of a conversion of the German Sd.Kfz 221 to a 28mm Anti Tank Rifle and wondered if it made it to Africa. I had a reference book and was able to identify the conversion. I had other reference books that gave me the TO&E of the divisions in Africa which showed that some were present. Please tell me what E books I should use to find this info. Even if I were to find a copy of one of these books had been converted to E books how do I fast scan to find the right book in my E library and then find the reference.

In some things E books are great (just download a novel from a series that is out of print). In other things it is not suited.