If this has been covered already, sorry... I went searching and couldn't find anything.

How do you decide which books to get from PBS vs. which to get electronically?

I have 400+ TBR paper books in my house right now, which I'll obviously read in paper. But new books... is it a price thing? I was thinking anything under $2 is a better deal to just buy for my Kindle than to use a credit for. But I'm not sure...

Thoughts?

$3 is my benchmark limit to start with for any book. That will cover a credit, and ILL loan, or an ebook. Occasionally it goes to 3.21 with a DC for a game. I try to read free first either in ebook or paper from the library and then I begin to spend money after that.

If it's a book I want that's fairly current, first I check Free Library of Philadelphia.

If it's an older book that's kind of rare, first I check PBS, then addall.com which will show you new/used and ebooks available from sellers all over the world. Addall.com is also sortable by price.   If it's not available at PBS, usually I find the best price at amazon.  I have also used alibris.com and strand books.com with good results.

If it's a book that's not available at PBS or a seller that I like to use and it's a book that I really really want to read, I'll check kobo for e-books.

I just saw this site posted as a way to find the eReader that meets your needs.

eReader database and comparison tool

Here.

Looks pretty cool!

I decide by how impatient I get.  And promos, such as ARe rebates.

There are also some publisher's that I like to buy from directly.  (Baen.)

I usually go with whatever will be cheapest. Not all the time though. If its part of a keeper series and ive got the rest of them in PB then thats what i go with. If ive got the rest of them in ebook form than thats what i go with. Im really picky like that. LOL

I go with what is cheap, on sale, and what I might not be able to get here or the library without a two year wait.  I only have so much shelf space so if I think or know a book will be a keeper then I will buy.  I am a rereader so I have a lot of keeper books.

In the year I had my Kindle I only got 2 books!  Both cause they werent in eBook formate!  Both off PBS!  BTW I still get Audios from time to time. 

Thanks, guys! :) I appreciate the insight.

Often I have hard copies from PBS and an e-copy. That way while I read the hard copy at home, I can continue to read when I'm out and about on my device.

-RD

I've bought only 2 or 3 books for my EReader.  I get whatever's cheapest and in most cases it's hardcopy because I browse UBS, FoL, and thrift shops. I  use the $3 limit like Nancy.

ETA: Unless it's a rare or difficult book to get a copy of.  Then I make an exception.

For me it's mainly price and whether or not it's lendable.  I might be willing to pay a little more for an ebook that's I can lend out on Lendleme than I am for one that I can't.  I have a huge print TBR at home and there's a ton of ebook freebies out there.  I can wait for a book to come via WL here or come down in price.  There's nothing that I have to read right away. 

So for me: if I can get the ebook for less than $4 than I will probably go ebook, even if it's not lendable.  Because I figure the book will cost me a credit worth about $2.50 here and then another $2.50 to mail it out to someone if it's postable when I'm done.  So $4 doesn't seem too high.  Even then, it goes on my Amazon WL for now until I am either at that point in the series or my TBR has reduced by a significant amount.

If my library has the book in any format-then I won't pay anythign for it-credit here or money elsewhere. 

If it's an out of print or rarely posted here book-then I might be willing to pay more than $4 even if it's not lendable. When I first got my Kindle, I went through the books on my WL the longest-I found several for less than $6 on Kindle.  Books that hadn't been posted here in 2+years.  I got myself some for Christmas. Many were even lendable and a few were less than $2. 

I've had my Kindle for 2 months now and I think I've paid for mabye 20 books.  Only a couple of those were more than .99 and the most expensive was $5.  I have about 300 on my Kindle though.  I track the freebies on ereaderiq everyday and so far have found 5 of my print TBR books pop up as Kindle freebies. And quite a few older books or short stories by well known authors. 

I joined Lendle.me and have a reminder/wish list over there of about 50 books.  I've already earned a bunch of credits there.  Books don't always stay lendable or free. So I list them right away there.