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“The Amazon Kindle is too expensive” seems to be one of the biggest complaints. But is it really? Cell phones, music players, and cameras cost anywhere from $0 to $1000.

Is $399 for a Kindle too much? If you “need” the device and will use it for its purpose, then the answer is purely a subjective one. Let’s look at some numbers!!

First, let’s look at the cost of reading an actual (purchased) book:

Here are some prices for some of the current bestsellers at different locations: (tax and shipping not included):

If you purchased all twelve books you would spend anywhere from $188.29 (Amazon) to $317.77 (list price). The average list price for a book was $26.48 and the average cost per book among the stores ranged from $15.69 (Amazon) to $18.74 (Borders). For someone who reads 50 books a year, they could spend anywhere from $784.54 (Amazon) to $1,324.04 (list price) or more!

No one claimed reading was an inexpensive hobby!

People will continue to buy books. I ran out of space for books year ago, and found ebooks to be an alternative I could learn to live with. They take up little/no space and many can be carried with ease!

So what about ebooks? Here are the same books, offered as ebooks at the Kindle store, Sony Connect, Mobipocket, Fictionwise and ebooks.com:

(Note: Online prices, not club member discounts were used)

In this situation, if you purchased all twelve ebooks you would spend anywhere from $116.28 (Kindle store) to $239.34 (ebooks.com). The average cost per book among the stores ranged from $9.69 (Kindle store) to $19.95 (ebooks.com). For someone who reads 50 books a year, they could spend anywhere from $484.50 (Kindle store) to $997.25 (ebooks.com).

The ebooks purchased at Kindle store can only be read on the Kindle. To read the actual book or ebook on your computer (AND another device- phone, PDA, etc) you will pay almost twice as much!

The ebooks for the Kindle can be purchased with or without the use of a computer (an added convenience) and all purchases are saved by Amazon in your media library online.  All of the others require downloading and saving to the computer.

I have been purchasing books from Mobipocket and Fictionwise for years for reading on my personal computer, Dell Axim x51v (pocket pc) and AT&T Tilt (pocket pc phone) using Mobipocket software. It’s okay, but I don’t usually read sitting at the computer, and reading on a small screen tends to “get old”. I have always wanted “more”.

Looking at the numbers, the purchase of a Kindle, would “pay for itself” (for me) before 50 books were purchased from the Kindle store!

So, THERE are some numbers…… to make you THINK!

[Editor's Note: My Kindle is "supposed" to be a Christmas gift from my husband to me, wrapped and under the tree. It will get there eventually, but I will be using it during the day while everyone is gone (at school and work). Let's hope no one asks or figures out that it has arrived!]

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