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The price difference is even more absurd when you consider the second-hand/used market. I tend to buy and read books in ebook format for the ease of being able to copy-and-paste from them and port them around on my cellphone, but for the great books I want as keepers on my bookshelf (bookshelves are wonderful conversational topics), I buy them in hardback at 50% the cost ($0.99 plus $3.99 shipping usually) from Amazon's network of used bookstores. The other benefit of cheap used books is that I can lend them out without caring if I ever get them back since I can get a replacement copy with the click of a button.