The Cheapskate

The awesome LEGO Indiana Jones is one of many freebies you can get when you buy two other discounted Xbox games.

(Credit: Amazon)

Much as I love game consoles, I can't bring myself to spend $60 on a game. Luckily, I have patience: I'm willing to wait till prices come down and deals come along. Case in point: Amazon is offering one free Xbox 360 game when you buy two.

The games are all "Xbox Platinum Hits," and hits they are. The 17 available titles include Assassin's Creed, BioShock (one of my all-time favorites), Gears of War, and Mass Effect.

If you've got kids, the choice is easy: buy LEGO Star Wars: The Complete Saga and LEGO Indiana Jones: The Original Adventures (for a grand total of $38.48--did I mention all the games are on sale?) and get LEGO Batman as your freebie.

(Seriously, the LEGO games are phenomenal. Can't recommend them highly enough.)

Just add any three titles to your cart; Amazon will subtract the price of the least-expensive one at checkout. And because you'll invariably end up over $25, you'll get free shipping, to boot. (You'll probably have to pay sales tax, though.)

Suffice it to say, this is a great way to stock up on Xbox gems on the cheap. Just one question for Amazon: when can we get this deal on PlayStation 3 titles?

Like an underwater-themed Bejeweled, Big Kahuna Reef offers puzzle fun...for free!

(Credit: Amazon)

I'm back! Miss me? I missed all y'all so much that I'm kicking off this week with two, count 'em, two great freebies.

Amazon is offering a free download of Big Kahuna Reef, a Bejeweled-style puzzle game for Windows PCs. (The product page shows only XP, but it's running fine in Vista.)

Better still, when you "buy" the game, you'll receive a $5 credit good for any Amazon MP3 purchase(s). In other words, you get five free songs or $5 off any album. (I highly recommend Brendan Benson's new one, "My Old, Familiar Friend." Awesome stuff.)

Big Kahuna Reef is by no means a new title (it debuted in 2005), but it's still a great little puzzler for fans of casual games (and, um, fish). Check out GameSpot's extremely positive review.

You will need to have an Amazon account already set up to take advantage of this deal, and you'll need to install Amazon's Games and Software Downloader to grab the game.

Other than that, there are no catches to this splendid pair of freebies. Let me know how you like the game and what music you're going to download with your credit.

Amazon inexplicably charges nearly as much for the e-book edition as for the hardcover.

(Credit: Amazon)

Dear e-book publishers: stop gouging us.

Look, I'm your biggest fan. I've been reading digitally distributed fiction and non-fiction since the early days of the PalmPilot.

The most frequently used apps on my iPhone, bar none, are Kindle, eReader, and Stanza.

But I'm getting increasingly frustrated with e-book prices, which rarely represent a savings over their print (aka dead-tree) counterparts.

Case in point: I just read a glowing review of Jonathan Tropper's "This is Where I Leave You." I'm sold; I want it. But something's amiss here: Amazon's hardcover price is $15.57, while the Kindle edition sells for $14.01.

Now, I understand books cost money. There's editing, publishing, and distribution. Paper, ink, trucks, gasoline. Storage, shipping, shelf space, sales staff. And the countless people involved in all those transactions.

E-books, on the other hand, consume zero trees. They weigh nothing, occupy no physical space, and don't get shipped in the traditional sense. Middlemen are few and far between. So you're left with, what, editing costs and the pittance you pay the authors?

Explain to me, then, why the e-book edition of "This is Where I Leave You" sells for $14.01. The $.01 suggests there must be some calculation at work, some formula you use to determine that Kindle and iPhone owners get to save all of a buck-fifty-six when they read green.

The Kindle is a bit more affordable at $299, but there are still cheaper alternatives.

(Credit: Amazon)

As you may have heard, Amazon just dropped the price of the Kindle 2 to $299.

As a fan of A) e-books, B) gadgets, and C) deals, I'm pleased--but I still think there are better, cheaper alternatives. Hear me out.

For starters, the 8GB iPod Touch does waaaay more than the Kindle (you don't really need me to list everything, do you? Music, videos, games, Internet, apps of all kinds...), but costs just $229. Heck, get a refurb for $179--I just did.

Obviously the Touch has a smaller screen than the Kindle, but it's also a backlit touch screen. Just yesterday I spent the better part of a five-hour flight reading an e-book on my iPhone (via the Kindle app, ironically). No eyestrain, no headaches, no problem. Try it before you pooh-pooh it. (I also routinely read in bed with it. Can't do that with the Kindle unless there's a light on.)

Here's an even more radical idea: buy a Netbook. As regular Cheapskate readers know, it's not uncommon to find models selling for as low as $200, sometimes even less.

And with a couple minor tweaks, it's a simple matter to turn your Netbook into a Kindle. Yes, I know, it's heavier and bulkier--but it's also a full-blown computer!

My goal here is not to trash the Kindle, which I think is a terrific device. (Anything that encourages reading is aces in my book.) In fact, it's even more terrific now that you can (cheap plug alert!) read the Cheapskate blog on it.

But $299 is still too high, at least for me. (Amazon needs to lower its e-book prices, too, but that's a gripe for another day.) What about you? How much would you pay for a Kindle?

Who says there's no such thing as a free lunch? Amazon.com has nearly 800 MP3s free for the download.

(Credit: Rick Broida)

Want to freshen up your music library? Amazon.com is offering a whopping 770 MP3s you can download free of charge.

I've long been a fan of Amazon's MP3 store, which offers DRM-free music downloads compatible with PCs, portable players, cell phones, GPS devices, MP3-playing fry pans, and other gizmos.

I visit the store almost daily to check out the Daily Deal, which is usually a complete album for just $2 to $4. (For example, last month, Amazon had U2's new "No Line on the Horizon" for $3.99. Alas, it's back up to $8.99--but that's still a buck cheaper than on Apple's iTunes.)

As for the freebies, you'll find singles from the likes of Neko Case, Robyn Hitchcock, Death Cab for Cutie, and plenty of artists you've probably never heard of. But so what? Free is free, and there's loads of good listening to be had here. Here are five downloads I like:

• "Hurt Feelings," Flight of the Conchords
• "Belated Promise Ring," Iron & Wine
• "Ghosts Under Rocks," Ra Ra Riot
• "Sean Connery," Craig Ferguson (8 minutes of stand-up gold)
• "All the Same Mistakes," Mieka Pauley

Unfortunately, there's no way to download all 770 tracks in one fell swoop--you have to grab them one at a time. (You'll also need to install Amazon's MP3 Downloader app, which, conveniently, can automatically add new tracks to your iTunes or Windows Media Player library.)

Amazon regularly adds new stuff to the freebie library, so make sure to check back every few weeks. Oh, and if you want an easy way to keep tabs on the Daily Deal, subscribe to Amazon's Twitter feed.

Superfiller makes it a snap to find cheap stuff on Amazon.

(Credit: Rick Broida)

Raise your hand if this sounds familiar: you have just under $25 worth of stuff in your Amazon shopping cart--not quite enough to qualify for free shipping--so you go trolling the site for something small and inexpensive to tip the scales.

Of course, finding the right something is never easy, so you decide to treat yourself to an item on your wish list...and end up spending way more than you'd planned. Amazing how easy it is to justify spending money to save money, no?

Superfiller makes it a snap to find "filler" items that bring your total to exactly $25, thus qualifying you for Super Saver Shipping.

Let's say you're $1.15 shy of $25. Plug in that amount and Superfiller quickly builds a list of about 20 items that match (or come close). Below that, you'll find categorical lists: books, music, office products, and so on.

Pick the item you want, click the link, add it to your Amazon shopping cart, and presto! You're out the door for $25.

Yeah, I know, we're talking about saving a few bucks, tops. But every little bit helps, right? And admit it: You love getting free shipping. It makes you feel happy and successful and smart. (No? It's just me, then?)

Thanks to reader john94857 for the tip about this crazy-handy site!

Procrastinators, rejoice! You can print a great gift in minutes.

(Credit: Amazon)

Need a last-minute gift for an office party, your trusty mail carrier, a beloved blogger, or anyone else on your list? As long as you have a printer, you can churn out something special in a matter of minutes. Here's a list of four stores that let you print your own gift certificates for in-person giving:

• Amazon.com On any Amazon page, click the Gift Cards link, then choose Print at Home. The minimum amount is $5, but you're not limited to increments: Your certificate can be in the amount of $10.57, if you want.
• Gifts.com The recipient of a Gifts.com certificate can redeem it at one or more of a hundred-plus stores and restaurants, including Barnes & Noble, Pottery Barn, and Starbucks.
• iTunes Obviously, you can grab an iTunes gift card in just about any store on the planet, but did you know you can print your own? Just fire up iTunes, click Buy iTunes Gifts, and then choose Printable Gift Certificates. Amounts range from $10 to $200.
• Restaurant.com Once again, Restaurant.com is offering $25 gift certificates for just $2 (with coupon code HOLIDAY). Not familiar with the site? Get the details from my previous post.

Get full seasons of Battlestar Galactica and other shows for just $5 each.

(Credit: Amazon)

In an effort to push its new-ish Video On Demand service, Amazon is offering cheap deals on full seasons of popular TV shows. For example, you can get the first three seasons of Battlestar Galactica for just 5 bucks each. Also in the bargain bin: House (four seasons' worth), Heroes (seasons 1 and 2), The Office, and, if you're really hard up for entertainment, Hercules: The Legendary Journeys and Saved By the Bell.

In case you're not familiar with it, Amazon Video on Demand lets you stream shows and movies right in your browser (Mac or PC), no download required. However, you do have the option of downloading videos to your PC, notebook, TiVo, or compatible portable player for later (offline) viewing.

Obviously, you can choose whatever viewing experience suits you best, but I especially recommend this deal for entertainment-starved, notebook-toting travelers. Five bucks for 22 episodes of House? How can you beat that?

Update: Sigh, well THAT was a short-lived sale! Looks like only Heroes is left at the $5 price. Come on, Amazon, give us more than 10 minutes, would ya?

(Credit: Rick Broida)

Stand back! My cheapskate senses are tingling! A new site called Daily Dollar Deals catalogs soon-to-end eBay auctions that have prices below $1. Just pick a category--anything from Antiques to Video Games--and you'll see a list of all under-a-buck auctions, sorted by time remaining. (You can also drill down into sub-categories to get more targeted listings, and there's a search option as well.)

Talk about a great way to scoop up bargains! Admittedly, sometimes the stuff that's selling for a buck isn't worth much more than that, but there are exceptions. For instance, I found four tickets for tonight's Pistons vs. Cavaliers game. Cheap seats, sure, but if I can take my whole family to see LeBron for 99 cents? Oh, yeah, I'm there. (But make no mistake: I'll be rooting for the Pistons.)

Daily Dollar Deals also offers a categorical list of Amazon products based on discount, from 10-90 percent. However, those numbers usually take into account used items as well as new--just something to keep in mind.

For anyone who loves the thrill of scoring dirt-cheap deals, I highly recommend bookmarking Daily Dollar Deals. My only concern is how much time I'll end up wasting there.

[via AppScout]