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Thursday, 19 January 2012

Reading The Economist for free on the Kindle


I've been reading the Economist off and on for twelve years. I like the interesting articles that make you think. Pro-freedom, democracy and free markets with a does of realism it's very much on my wavelength.

A subscriber back in the UK the price here in Australia is just absurd. I can't afford to but it!

When I got my Kindle for Christmas I thought it might be a good opportunity to subscribe to the Economist again at a more sensible price. However, I was surprised to discover that the Kindle edition is a bit more expensive than the paper version. With no printing or delivery charges I'd expect it to cost less.

Then I discovered Calibre. A slightly clunky e-book management tool, it has a nifty 'news fetch' service (which is the only thing I use it for).

The full edition of the Economist is available for free on their website. Calibre goes onto their site, downloads all the articles, converts them to Kindle format and emails it off to your e-reader. Hey presto.

I've wondered a couple of times about the ethics of doing this. Am I stealing something I should pay for? However, I'm only reading articles that a freely available on the web. I am sure they'd prefer me to read the content on their website, but I'm doing the economically rational thing. It would be hypocritical if they didn't approve.


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6 comments:

  1. Angie Lives to Eat (and Cook)!16 April 2013 at 13:01

    Happy bloggiversary Rich! Lol top 20 on urbanspoon? You did well! I'm a nobody because I rarely have time to post up all my restaurant visits these days.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Richard Elliot16 April 2013 at 20:44

      I'm not quite sure how it happened, I'm also not sure if it actually means anything.....

      Thanks for the birthday wishes.

      Delete
  2. Anonymous25 September 2014 at 16:02

    Thanks for putting this post up, Richard.

    I had no idea that you could read the whole print edition online for free.

    I always kept getting those "You have reached your free article limit" popups.

    Well done.

    I am now pulling the whole print edition down via Calibre.

    You little beauty, you...!!

    Kindest Regards,

    John M
    Melbourne

    p.s The prices here in Australia areeee absolutely ridiculous - that's what led me to look for free ways to read The Economist. That's how I came upon your blog via a search. Good work, maaate!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Anonymous17 March 2015 at 03:08

    I had exactly the same experience - went to attempt to buy it for a reasonable price via kindle, but found it ridiculously expensive in Australia, and then free on Kindle.

    I used to order the paper version in the US and have it sent to Aus, so I was happy to pay that same price... but couldn't do so. Could either pay the ridiculous Australian price or get it for free - no choice there.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Unknown11 September 2015 at 15:10

    You can get every week's issue here for free.
    http://www.freemagspot.me/TopTen.aspx?Category_ID=74

    ReplyDelete
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