I always had this inkling, so since early on, despite the hype and 'attractive' prices, I have bought nothing but books. In fact, I can't see myself buying anything but books online, from any vendor and not just Amazon.
Even with books, especially technical books, I have fallen to the trap of unwittingly buying Indian version of the book (I am an Indian living in India) where chapters are culled, contents are 'adapted', preface and other such items are missing etc. But this could be my fault as I failed to read the fine print, which does exist.
(It enrages me that Indians are forced to use substandard versions of internationally acclaimed books for their reference. I am fine with using gray scale instead of 32M color images, or using thinner paper, smaller fonts etc but altering content, skipping content etc is bad. I am sure there is an economic constraint behind this - Indian versions are usually 1/5th to 1/8th the international price - and often think why don't they use substandard presentation instead of substandard content, but what do I know.
Many times, I buy older version of a book which will be far cheaper, and in 'Indian price range', than the freshly minted, latest and up to date version, especially when it deals with 'static' topics like maths, physics, linguistics etc because I have come to realize that the book companies whip out newer versions with negligible changes just to keep their business running, especially when its supposed to be a text book.)
Even with books, especially technical books, I have fallen to the trap of unwittingly buying Indian version of the book (I am an Indian living in India) where chapters are culled, contents are 'adapted', preface and other such items are missing etc. But this could be my fault as I failed to read the fine print, which does exist.
(It enrages me that Indians are forced to use substandard versions of internationally acclaimed books for their reference. I am fine with using gray scale instead of 32M color images, or using thinner paper, smaller fonts etc but altering content, skipping content etc is bad. I am sure there is an economic constraint behind this - Indian versions are usually 1/5th to 1/8th the international price - and often think why don't they use substandard presentation instead of substandard content, but what do I know.
Many times, I buy older version of a book which will be far cheaper, and in 'Indian price range', than the freshly minted, latest and up to date version, especially when it deals with 'static' topics like maths, physics, linguistics etc because I have come to realize that the book companies whip out newer versions with negligible changes just to keep their business running, especially when its supposed to be a text book.)