Like audiobooks? Here's your chance to get two for free.
(Credit: Audible)I'm a longtime fan of Audible, an audiobook-download service that lets you burn your own CDs and/or transfer books to portable devices (iPods, BlackBerrys, etc.).
The company has offered various free trials and promotions over the years, but this is the best one I've seen: Sign up for a 30-day trial of AudibleListener Gold and get two free audiobooks.
So here's how it works: You sign up for a new account (which does require a credit card), then download the Audible software (available for Windows and Mac, or as an iTunes add-on if you're doing the iPod/iPhone thing). You'll automatically receive two credits in your account, which you can use to download the books of your choice.
After the 30-day trial expires, you'll start getting billed $14.95 per month for your Gold membership, which entitles you to one audio credit, 30 percent off any additional purchases, and a free subscription to The New York Times or Wall Street Journal (the audio versions, natch).
If you routinely buy one audiobook every month, the Gold plan is pretty solid. For example, Jonathan Tropper's "This Is Where I Leave You" (a terrific read, by the way) costs $23.95 on iTunes. If you used your Audible credit, it'd effectively cost you $14.95. Already burned through your credit? Your membership price is $19.59--still cheaper than iTunes.
Of course, you can always cancel your account before the end of the trial, end up paying nothing, and walk away with your two free books.
But if you spend a lot of time in the car, on the train, or even on the biking/hiking/jogging trail, nothing beats a good book. Like I said, I'm a longtime Audible fan. It's a great resource for scoring audiobooks for less than you'd pay elsewhere.
Forget $259: a refurbished Kindle 2 will run you just $219, full warranty included.
(Credit: Amazon)As you've probably heard by now, Amazon just cut the price of the Kindle 2 to $259. Definitely a step in the right direction, but still too rich for my blood.
Now, $219 shipped for a refurbished Kindle 2? That's a deal worth considering.
This is the first time I've seen a refurb offer on the famed e-book reader, though, as it turns out, you can also get a 1st-generation Kindle for just $149 (!).
Both models come from Warehouse Deals by Amazon, meaning they're eligible for Amazon customer service and covered by a 30-day return policy. Better still, you get the same one-year warranty as for new units.
Consequently, you have nothing to lose by going the refurb route. So this begs the question: Will you pull the Kindle trigger for $219? For $149?
Much as I'm salivating over these deals, I'm still perfectly happy with the Kindle app on my iPhone. Indeed, as I've noted before, a Netbook or iPod Touch can pull e-book duty and a whole lot more.
That said, my bigger problem is with the out-of-whack price of e-books. I can live (sort of) with paying $9.99 for new releases, but older titles should be priced at a buck or two.
I digress. The bottom line is that if you've been itching for a Kindle, here's your chance to score last year's model for $149 or this year's for $219. Verrry tempting.
Buy any New York Times bestsellers in e-book format, get the full purchase price refunded to your Micropay account.
(Credit: Fictionwise)Like e-books, but hate paying those exorbitant prices? E-bookseller Fictionwise (which was recently acquired by Barnes & Noble) is offering a deal that's pretty sweet: a 100% rebate on all New York Times bestsellers.
Let me clarify: You get a 100% Micropay rebate. What's Micropay? One way to buy e-books from Fictionwise is to set up a Micropay account, which is basically just a debit account (not unlike Microsoft's Points system for Xbox and Zune).
Basically, you add funds to it (in $5 increments via check, credit card, or PayPal), then draw on those funds each time you buy a book.
The bestsellers deal works like this: When you buy one or more books on the list, using your credit card or PayPal, Fictionwise credits the full purchase price back to your Micropay account. So it's kind of like getting the books for free.
Now, I know what you're thinking, and the answer is no: Purchases made via Micropay don't qualify for Micropay rebates. Otherwise you'd be getting rebates in perpetuity and, well, Fictionwise ain't that dumb.
The reality, then, is that when you buy one or more books on the bestsellers list, you get full credit back in Micropay, which you can then use to get additional other books. More of a buy-one-get-one-free kind of deal.
Make sense? These are real-deal NYT bestsellers, by the way, with titles like "The Kite Runner," "The Girl Who Played with Fire," and "Eat, Pray, Love." The only downside is that they're all pretty pricey: many sell in the $15-20 range, whereas the Kindle versions mostly go for $10.
On the other hand, Fictionwise offers e-books in a variety of formats, many of which are compatible with a wide range of devices. Still, if you're shopping for e-books for, say, your iPhone, you'll want to crunch the numbers to make sure the Micropay rebate is a better deal than, say, buying books in the Kindle store to read in the eponymous app.
Ultimately, I think most avid e-book readers will find some great savings here.
Apple's Netbook-like iBook is on sale for just $399.99 shipped.
(Credit: Buy.com)Apple has yet to join the exploding Netbook market, right? Wrong: It joined the market nearly six years ago. It may have even pioneered it!
OK, let me explain. The Apple iBook G4, which debuted in late 2003 and has since been discontinued, has specs that remind me a lot of modern Netbooks. Pokey processor, smallish screen and hard drive, compact design, low price--sound familiar?
Buy.com has refurbished Apple iBook G4 laptops for $399.99 shipped. There are caveats, yes indeed, but this might be just the Apple Netbook you've been waiting for.
The iBook sports a 1.33GHz PowerPC G4 processor, 1GB of RAM, a 40GB hard drive, and a 12.1-inch LCD. It's perfect for the basics, right? You won't do a lot of video editing on it, but word processing, Web browsing, e-mail, and the like are fair game.
At five pounds, it's obviously heavier than most Netbooks, but there's a reason for that: the slot-loading DVD/CD-RW drive. That's definitely something you won't find in a traditional Netbook, but do you mind having one?
I'm no expert when it comes to Apple systems (CNET is--check its review of the iBook G4), and I have no hands-on experience with this model. I do know it comes with OS X 10.5, so at least you're getting (almost) the latest and greatest version of the Mac OS. (FYI, Snow Leopard, a.k.a. 10.6, will not run on PowerPC Macs.)
The only major hiccup here is the warranty: a scant 30 days (and provided by Buy.com, I'm guessing). I'm sure that'll be a deal breaker for some people, and perhaps rightly so, but think about it: The slot-loading drive is the most likely trouble spot, and if it breaks, the iBook is that much closer to a typical Netbook. (How's that for a positive spin?)
Anyway, let me know what you think of Apple's almost-Netbook. Or if you think I'm cuckoo for making the analogy.
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.
... Read more
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?
Want an Amazon Kindle but can't stomach the $359 price tag? (Me, neither.) This might be the next best thing: Borders has the Sony Reader PRS-505 for $199.99 shipped. (Apply coupon code SONY505READ at checkout to get that price.)
Like the Kindle, the Sony Reader is an e-book viewer. Though it can't download them wirelessly, Sony's eBook Store does carry about 100,000 titles as well as half a million public-domain works from Google. Alas, most of the commercial books are priced a few bucks higher than Amazon's.
Before jumping on this deal, you'll definitely want to read David Carnoy's review of the PRS-505. You can also see his video review up above.
Much as I'm liking this price, my e-book reader of choice remains my iPhone. I've gotten a surprising amount of flak for this (notably in this post about freebie books--many of which are still available, by the way), for reasons I don't fully understand, but I still can't see buying and carrying a separate, single-purpose device when I can read comfortably on the device I'm already carrying.
What do you think? Is $199 a good entry point for an e-book reader with a nice, big screen? If so, act fast: I'm not sure when this code expires, but probably quite soon.
How to succeed in business: Use free software whenever possible, like Peachtree Pro Accounting 2009, which is free after rebate.
(Credit: Peachtree)Here's a fiscally responsible business move: Pay $140 for Peachtree Pro Accounting 2009 now, and get a $140 rebate in 4 to 6 weeks.
You can thank Staples for this eventual freebie (even shipping is free, though you'll probably have to pay sales tax). Just don't wait too long to push through your purchase order; the rebate deal expires this Saturday, May 9.
Designed for small businesses, Peachtree Pro Accounting helps with payroll, invoices, inventory, reporting, and stuff like that. As I understand it, it compares favorably with QuickBooks.
CNET hasn't reviewed the 2009 edition, and in fact I've found few reviews of it anywhere. Thus, if you've tried Peachtree 2009, let your fellow Cheapskaters know what you think of it (in the comments, natch).
Of course, even if it turns out to be a lemon (as opposed to, ahem, a peach), you're only out the cost of sales tax. That should make the accounts-payable department happy.
BONUS DEAL: While we're on the subject of free-after-rebate software, Fry's has the Kaspersky Internet Security 2009 suite (three-user) for--wait for it--free after rebate. Actually, it's a pair of rebates. I'm generally not a fan of security software, but if you're in the market, Kaspersky got a fairly decent review from CNET.
Stanza: download 10 free e-books from Random House and thousands more from other sources.
I love reading books on my iPhone, but I don't love e-book prices. I mean, digital content requires no printing, binding, shipping, storage, or heavy lifting--so why does Amazon charge the same price for the Kindle edition of "The Kite Runner" as for the paperback?
That's a debate for another day (though let me go on record saying I'd buy a lot more e-books if they were priced in the $1 to $4 range). For now, let's look at ways you can read on the cheap--or, at least, the cheaper--on your iPhone.
- Look for freebies Stanza, one of my favorite e-book viewers (just acquired by Amazon, incidentally), connects you with thousands of freebies. For example, check out the Random House Free Library, which currently stocks 10 mainstream e-books. (Best bet: Charlie Huston's superb crime-noir series, which starts with "Caught Stealing.") Meanwhile, there's Google Book Search, a browser-based solution that connects you to a whopping 1.5 million public-domain books. Point Safari to http://books.google.com/m.
- Look for deals E-bookseller Fictionwise already discounts its e-books, but you can stretch your dollar even further by setting up a "Micropay" account (i.e., a debit account). Most books come with a Micropay rebate, meaning you get 10 percent to 15 percent of the purchase price added back to your account. But sometimes Fictionwise runs rebate specials, as it's doing right now with J.R.R. Tolkien's "Lord of the Rings" series: Buy any/all of the books and you get back 100 percent. You can read Fictionwise e-books using eReader or Stanza. (Just make sure to choose titles that are available in the Secure eReader format.)
- Try before you buy Amazon's Kindle app lets you read free of charge the entire first chapter of any book in the Kindle Store. That's a great way to see if you like a book before plunking down your $10. However, you can't browse the store from within the app: You have to queue up your sample chapters from your browser. Not so with Shortcovers, an e-book viewer with a built-in bookstore that offers sample chapters for many titles (but only forewords for others). ... Read more
Get eight short stories and Mark Twain's most famous novel, all free from Barnes & Noble.
(Credit: Barnes & Noble)Good news, commuters: Barnes & Noble is offering nine audiobooks absolutely free. They're downloads, of course, but they're in MP3 format, meaning that you can burn them to CDs, copy them to your iPod/Zune/Sansa, and listen on your Netbook or whatever.
So, if they're free, they must be bargain bin books from no-name authors, right? Wrong. But eight of them are short stories, most ranging from 30 minutes to 60 minutes. Thus, while you may not recognize the titles, you'll definitely recognize some of the authors.
Among the more notable names: Kurt Vonnegut, Louis L'Amour, Junot Diaz, Alice Munro, and Jonathan Lethem. Oh, there's also this guy Mark Twain, who provides the collection's only full-length novel: "The Adventures of Tom Sawyer."
To get the freebies, just add one or more of them to your shopping cart. (Although they're priced at a penny apiece, your cart will show a $0 balance.) Even though no money's changing hands, you'll need to create a Barnes & Noble account and supply a credit card. (If you'd rather not, choose PayPal as your payment method--even if you don't have an account.)
You'll also need to download and install B&N's OverDrive Media Console software, which manages your audiobooks and lets you play, burn, transfer, etc. It's available for Windows and Mac.
In the interim, you'll receive an e-mail with a link that takes you to the download page. So, yeah, you have to jump through some hoops to get your audiobooks--but such is the price of free, right?
