D&D 5E 5E - Would you buy e-Books?

[erleni]

I'm all for PDFs and DDI stuff (compendium, builder, ...). Our group is sparse in a 100 km radius (about 60 miles) and we play in a different house each time, so hauling books around is an issue.

By the way it would be good not to get a PDF, but the right to download it at any time. In this way eventual updates could be put directly in the pdf and an e-mail alert could be sent to those who purchased the pdf, saying "Hey, we made an update. If you want to download the updated version, it's available on the website".

 

[Mercutio01]

How is 50% off reasonable? The paper isn't the valuable part nor is the binding. If that were the case the owners of used bookstores would all be wealthy compared to, say, carpenters. And Office Max would be running Best Buy into the ground.
The valuable part is the ideas and rules that have gone through a (hopefully) thorough vetting and testing process, as well as the layout, design, and other factors that increase the ease of your user experience.

By that reasoning you think I should pay the cover price for an electronic copy? I say 50% because that's about what the retail stores pay for each copy of a book they sell. I know this from personal experience with my book of poetry and with my relationship with that book's publisher.

So, the ideas are worth about half of what retail customers pay for it.

Also - go check out Amazon and Barnes and Noble and their cost for ebook versions of books in hardcover. In most cases, they charge even less than 50% for the ebook versions of books in hardcover. Now, they do charge roughly 100% of cover price for newish paperback books, but it's more like 75% for older ebooks that are in trade paperback.

EDIT - And I'm not interested in further derailing the thread, so that will be the last word from me on the subject. If you want to continue it, I'm not averse to taking the discussion to PMs or opening a different thread in the off-topic forums.

 

[Viking Bastard]

I'm firmly in the e-book camp. I live in a 50m^2 apartment--I don't have room for more stuff; I don't really have room for the stuff I've already got.

Plus, meatspace is annoyingly still missing a search function! When prepping, I find I'm much faster at finding information on the computer, than I am looking through the books. I sometimes find myself googling a question, despite the book holding the answer lying right next to me. The googling is quicker and less disruptive to my process.

That said, I still appreciate a good book in my hand. Love browsing the Monster Vault and Mordenkainen's.

 

[Radiating Gnome]

You should get the new iPad, I'm reading PF PDFs on it with no zooming.

It's not the new screen that limits it -- it's my old eyes. I can't read it that small.

-rg

 

[Otakkun]

I just can say that I've learnt from my mistakes. I'm not buying any rule books in physical media. That only works for novels.

So, it's either ebooks or nothing for me regarding 5E.

 

[Otakkun]

How is 50% off reasonable? The paper isn't the valuable part nor is the binding. If that were the case the owners of used bookstores would all be wealthy compared to, say, carpenters. And Office Max would be running Best Buy into the ground.
The valuable part is the ideas and rules that have gone through a (hopefully) thorough vetting and testing process, as well as the layout, design, and other factors that increase the ease of your user experience.

50% of the price has little to do with the paper itself, 10-20% I'd believe. The other 30% is all about actually getting said book to you. Shipping to stores, shelve space, etc.