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Comment by johncalvinyoung | Hacker News Reader

Explains why Spotify and Kindle Unlimited is an automatic yes from me, and new fiction hard copies much less so, based on my usage.

- Spotify: 65k minutes a year, 90h/mo, so around 0.13/h

I’m a fast reader, so a novel averages 2-5 hours for me, probably 4h would be a fair guess.

Last few years have averaged 150 titles a year on KU, so… 50hr/mo and 0.25/h in costs.

And that print novel is usually 15-25 these days new… and still only 3-4h for me, at least $5/h. I’ll buy books I want to own in the long term, or support the authors, but that’s still expensive.

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I think an e-book is a great idea, but Kindle Unlimited never has anything I want to read. I’m not saying they don’t have items I would read, but when I go to find a book I’ve heard about, it’s not available there. Instead I just Libby through my local libraries and OReilly through my work. Those are services I’d pay Kindle Unlimited subscription prices for if not already available.

If you use Libby then it's tax dollars you've already paid that you're using. So marginal cost is $0/h.

Maybe I'm not trying to read books in the target market that my local library is trying to serve with what it has available on Libby, but I probably have a 5% success rate with books I'm trying to read actually being available on Libby.

(Setting aside the very hostile payment structure that Libby imposes on libraries, which makes it look far less attractive as a tax-payer now that I know how it works)

If you don't know you can get a Brooklyn Public Library membership online not being a citizen of NY. They have one of if not the largest Libby/etc libraries. You'd get a card then put your # into Overdrive/Libby and check out books.

https://www.bklynlibrary.org/use-the-library/borrow

edit: Well nevermind apparently they stopped doing it. I can't even renew my card.. boo.

"As of July 15, 2022, Brooklyn Public Library is no longer offering its fee-based out-of-state library card. Our priority remains serving Brooklynites and assuring that they can access the materials they need in a timely manner. BPL Library cards remain free for anyone who lives, works, pays property taxes or attends school in New York State. Existing out-of-state accounts will remain active until their expiration date and will not be renewable."

Does anyone know of another huge library with online/out-of-State cards?

This may just confirm that your local library doesn't have what you're looking for on Libby, but if you have a Goodreads to-read list, you may find https://projecttbr.com/ very helpful. I used to comb through my list of books to read manually and had a hard time finding anything I wanted to listen to, but this site made it a pretty easy process.

I also consume a lot more Spotify than anything else, but get a lot more value/hour from eg YouTube.

Btw Spotify, if you want me to "agree" to your price hike, asking over and over again with the same threat of probably downgrade me to the free version is just stupid. I might simply resubscribe then. Or just try some different service that shows me some respect, instead of attempting to get a miss-click out of me.

Probably a good idea anyway, both to get out of my current bubble but also see what value/$ competitors offer.

I read a lot but Kindle unlimited never enticed me. I had a quick look at what was available and thought "I don't want to read any of these books".

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