No more O'Reilly subscriptions for me

Original Article ↗ Hacker News Discussion ↗

Pricing, Value, and Discounts

  • Many consider the current $500/year list price unjustifiable, especially for slow readers or light users.
  • Several commenters are grandfathered on older plans ($199–$300/year, some “indefinite” promo pricing) and say it’s worth it at those rates, but they would not subscribe at today’s prices.
  • Some see strong value in being able to skim multiple books on a topic before committing, especially for fast-changing tech, and feel $500 still pays off.
  • Others argue it’s cheaper and psychologically healthier to just buy a few targeted books per year instead of feeling pressured to “get their money’s worth” from a subscription.

Institutional Access and Alternatives

  • Many get O’Reilly through:
    • ACM membership + skills add‑on (much cheaper than list price, though some report more limited access vs direct subs).
    • Public libraries (multiple cities mentioned) and university libraries via SSO; often full catalog but weaker personalization/progress tracking.
    • Employers, departments, or veteran benefits.
  • Cyber Monday and recurring sales often bring the annual rate down to ~$300.
  • Alternatives mentioned: Manning’s all‑you‑can‑eat subscription (DRM‑free, praised UX), Humble Bundle/Fanatical tech bundles, and simply buying physical or DRM‑free ebooks.

App, UX, and DRM Concerns

  • The O’Reilly mobile app is widely criticized as “unusable”: crashes, poor rendering of code, broken bookmarks/collections, weak text‑to‑speech, and inability to export epubs.
  • Several people rely on the web reader instead, which is considered acceptable but still inferior to a good PDF/ebook reader.
  • Strong sentiment against subscription‑only access and DRM; some long‑time customers stopped buying when direct DRM‑free sales disappeared or became harder to access.

Changing Tech-Book Ecosystem and LLMs

  • Reports of significant industry decline (e.g., large drops in non‑fiction sales, Pragmatic Bookshelf troubles) spark discussion about the future of technical books.
  • Explanations debated: competition from LLMs and web content, proliferation of low‑effort/LLM‑assisted ebooks, shorter shelf life of tech topics, and end of employer‑funded perks.
  • Several argue curated, long‑form material remains crucial for “big picture” learning and for countering online/LLM misinformation, even if people increasingly reach first for chatbots and Stack Overflow.

Format Preferences and Reading Habits

  • Commenters split between:
    • Heavy buyers of physical books (annotation, multiple open at once, better retention).
    • Readers happy with DRM‑free PDFs/epubs and tablets.
  • Many say they now buy far fewer tech books, relying more on docs, blogs, and occasional high‑quality titles instead of broad subscriptions.