Save Some Money - Don't Buy Free Things

Fri, 12/26/2008 - 15:07 — neelan

I've been struggling with whether or not I should write this blog because I know it is going to come across as self-serving. I think in other economic times, I would have left this alone, but I've heard so many horror stories this holiday season with layoffs, forced vacations, time off without pay, adult kids moving back in with their parents, etc., that I feel this was needed, self-serving or not.

I want to encourage folks to stop spending their hard earned money on books that they can get for free on Stanza or at Project Gutenberg or other places.

Currently, in the Top Paid Apps in the Book Category, the following items are there:
#2 The Curious Case of Benjamin Button - $0.99 - available for free through Stanza
#4 The Art of War - $0.99 - available for free through Stanza
#7 Jane Austen Collection - $1.99 - all six books in this collection are available for free through Stanza
#9 Politics - The Essential Collection - $1.99 - all ten books in this collection are available for free through Stanza
#10 The Fireside Chats of Franklin D. Roosevelt - $0.99 - available for free through Stanza

If people are choosing to purchase these books because they prefer the features or the formatting or some other objective reason over what Stanza offers, no worries. But if it is lack of knowledge that these texts are all off-copyright and available in the public domain, I hope this blog at least lets people know what is available.

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Wed, 01/27/2010 - 03:53 — sasarock

Thank you

Thank you post :)

Oyunu Oyna

Wed, 12/31/2008 - 09:12 — Anonymous

Thank you!

Before Christmas, I discovered the Kindle. I had known about it, but didn't pay much attention. I did some research and decided I really wanted one. Most of what I like to read is classic literature and was please to see my books would be anywhere from fifty cents to three dollars to download from Amazon. It sounded like a great deal to me. I was thinking about buying one in the spring.

I was reading the NY Times online yesterday and came across a letter to the editor that was about the Kindle. It mentioned Stanza and spoke about some of the features. I had to check this out! On the bus on my way home from work, I downloaded to my iPhone the Stanza app and Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen in the span of a few city blocks. Once I got home, I downloaded 18 more books, all for free. Not only has Stanza saved me the $360 on the Kindle device, but it's saved me about $40 in the cost of those books from Amazon.

I immediately told all of my friends about this app and even blogged about it. No, Stanza doesn't have a built in dictionary...but I don't remember ever needing to look something up when I read anyway. I commute by bus about two hours a day and travel frequently. Stanza is a wonderful addition to my iPhone. There's also a little poetic justice about besting Amazon as well.

Thank you Stanza! And thank you, neelan, for this reminder of literature in the public domain!

Fri, 12/26/2008 - 15:54 — Anonymous

from Hugh McGuire

Though LibriVox.org (free public domain audio books) is not a commercial company, this issue still comes up often, because many people sell our recordings on ebay (which is fine, since all our audio is donated to the public domain, so anyone can use the recordings for any purpose, including commercial). Our general reaction is: the ebayers are providing a service we can't/don't provide: LibriVox recordings on CD. The cost for these CDs will trend down towards the cost of making the CDs plus a small margin, since anyone can sell them.

Similarly, the book-as-ap-for-money seems to be an easy format for iphone users to get without doing anything ...not that stanza is hard, but it requires a tiny amount of extra work. Generally thought, I'd say that the more people reading on iphones, whatever format, the better for Stanza. If they like the experience, they'll find you sooner or later.

And to be honest, my complaint would be more for the high prices publishers are insisting on for ebooks - $23.95 for Netherland? I've got Art of War in my stanza library already, for free. And in fact I've bought a hard copy of Netherland too - I'd love to have it on my phone, but the hardcover price seems to me to be abusive, and counterproductive.

But, as always: Kudos.

Cheers, Hugh McGuire.