New e-book pricing scheme a surprising assault on the wallet

[Ms. Toad]

47. Depends on the library...

One library lets me keep them for 21 days, the other lets me keep them for 14 days.

I have read more books in the last year since I got my velocity cruz reader than the previous several years - mostly because I can read them in bed as I fall asleep. (My spouse previously strenuously complained if I read in bed because the light bothers her.)

The disadvantages are that I don't have a lot of control over when I get a book (it works by a queue - and when you hit the front of the queue you take the book, or drop off the queue - and when the book is due, the book vanishes. If I wasn't finished, I have to get back in line to check it out again. Some books open to the last page read, some don't - so it does occasionally take me some time to figure out where I was and remember the story line.

But, access is free, I have yet to run out of things to read, all of my books are on one small book-sized item, and the device I have also has a built in browser so I can do e-mail and browsing anywhere there is wireless.

It cost me $99. Less than I spend on paperbacks in a typical year.

(ETA: There is a good selection, but not all books are available. On the other hand - not all books are available in the library anyway, and the selection of e-books is growing,)