eReader price Wars are Escalating

[Gangster Octopus]

So Amazon has slashed the price of the Kindel to $189, while Barnes & Noble have cut the price of the Nook to $199. B&N also said they would sell a wi-fi only Nook for $149.

IMO these are still too expensive, but they are definetely approaching my sweet spot. I have often thought the $99 was where they would end up.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100621/...noble_new_nook

[Lynn Bodoni]

I don't care about the cost of the readers as much as I care about the cost of the books. I think that the cost of an ebook is way, way too high. Yes, there are some great bargains available, especially on classic books. But there are also great bargains available for dead tree editions, too.

It's sort of like buying a printer, or a glucose meter. It's not just the cost of the initial hardware, but the continuing cost of the supplies (ink or testing strips) that will determine how expensive the thing is in the long run.

I think that I'd want to see the average fiction ebook at a price of around five bucks. Publishers have been crying about how much pulp and ink and shipping have been costing them for years now. Well, let's see them give the readers a price break when they DON'T have to pay for those costs.

[Sam Stone]

I suspect the iPad is a big factor here. It has seriously cut into the sales of eBook readers. At almost $300, an eBook reader now looks grossly overpriced compared to the iPad.

The price of books isn't bad - especially for Canadians. Print books here are grossly overpriced. A paperback that's $7.99 in the U.S. might be $11.99 here, despite the dollar only being about 5 cents lower than the American dollar. A $26.95 hardcover will be in the neighborhood of $32.95 in a bookstore here.

So when I can get the Kindle version of a hardcover for $12, that's a big savings.

[TimeWinder]

Originally Posted by Lynn Bodoni

Publishers have been crying about how much pulp and ink and shipping have been costing them for years now.

Actually, I've seen a number of estimates that put the physical cost of the book, including the cost of printing, at about ten percent. Distribution is another 5 or so (which I'm assuming is more or less "free" with e-books, although servers and network connections cost money, so maybe not). Which doesn't really make for a lot of savings on the e-book (although it doesn't explain why most of the ebooks I own cost more than the paper ones).

[Glory]

Sony Reader is getting hooked up with libraries. I can check out ebooks from the San Diego library system. Selection isn't big, but 97.8% of my reading is via library. Whoever wins the library war, wins me!

[Rigamarole]

This is good news but as much as I'd love to have an e-reader in theory I have to agree with Lynn Bodoni. I can't buy one unless the price of the e-books is also slashed dramatically.

[Lynn Bodoni]

Originally Posted by TimeWinder

Actually, I've seen a number of estimates that put the physical cost of the book, including the cost of printing, at about ten percent. Distribution is another 5 or so (which I'm assuming is more or less "free" with e-books, although servers and network connections cost money, so maybe not). Which doesn't really make for a lot of savings on the e-book (although it doesn't explain why most of the ebooks I own cost more than the paper ones).

See, that's what I'm not getting. Why should an ebook cost more than a dead tree book? I looked up several books that I was interested in...and in all cases, the ebook was more expensive than the PB version, and sometimes more expensive than the hardcover version. DOES NOT COMPUTE. I'm not going to pay MORE for a format that costs the producer less (I assume that it costs the publisher less), and that is less easy for me to use. It would be extremely convenient for me to be able to have most of my library stored as ebooks, but if I'm given the option to read something on a screen or read it as a dead tree version, it's easier for me to process the information from a dead tree.

[Edward The Head]

I've thought a time or two about getting some sort of e-reader. But when I see the prices of books at or above the price I can get a real book for then I stop thinking about it. It's the reason I haven't bought too many albums electronically. Why should I pay more, have to put it on a CD to listen to in my car, and then have the possible loss of data.

[merrick]

Originally Posted by Lynn Bodoni

See, that's what I'm not getting. Why should an ebook cost more than a dead tree book? I looked up several books that I was interested in...and in all cases, the ebook was more expensive than the PB version, and sometimes more expensive than the hardcover version. DOES NOT COMPUTE. I'm not going to pay MORE for a format that costs the producer less (I assume that it costs the publisher less)

If you want to depress yourself, you can read this New Yorker article, which is basically an extended whine about how evil Amazon was in offering ebooks for $10 when everyone one in the publishing industry knows that no real book ever cost less than $14 and that conditioning customers to expect lower prices will mean the collapse of the industry and the End Of Literature As We Know It.

It also gives figures - for a $26 hardback, the bookstore pays $13. The author's 15% royalty is $3.90. Production costs are $1.80, distribution $1.70 and marketing $1. The remaining $4.60 is the publisher's margin, which publishers are determined to protect.

The publishers won't take a lower margin on ebooks than they will on physical books because they're afraid of cannibalising the market and cutting their own revenue. But if you insist on $4 for the author and $5 for the publisher, then the final price of the book won't go below $13-15, even if the seller cuts their margins and production and distribution cost nothing. Amazon was paying publishers $13 for ebooks and selling them at $10 to build market share and the publishers revolted, afraid that $10 would become the baseline price and publishers would end up getting squeezed. (Increase sales by reducing prices? The very idea.)

[obfusciatrist]

While I understand wanting ebooks to be cheaper (and so far every one of the couple hundred I've bought has been and certainly never more expensive) than the paper version I just look at it this way:

I was willing to pay $X for the ability to read book Y. I didn't say "well, based on my estimate on how much it cost to manufacture this physical book I'm willing to pay $X" just "I want to read this and I'm willing to pay $X to do so."

The book being in an electronic format doesn't change that math for me. That's not to say cost is irrelevant to me, just that justification of cost is irrelevant to me.

[Justin_Bailey]

Originally Posted by Glory

Sony Reader is getting hooked up with libraries. I can check out ebooks from the San Diego library system. Selection isn't big, but 97.8% of my reading is via library. Whoever wins the library war, wins me!

Overdrive, one of the biggest suppliers of library ebooks, also supports the Nook.

[scr4]

Originally Posted by obfusciatrist

I was willing to pay $X for the ability to read book Y. I didn't say "well, based on my estimate on how much it cost to manufacture this physical book I'm willing to pay $X" just "I want to read this and I'm willing to pay $X to do so."

The book being in an electronic format doesn't change that math for me. That's not to say cost is irrelevant to me, just that justification of cost is irrelevant to me.

I agree. In fact, I may be willing to pay extra for the convenience of having it on my Kindle, rather than having the content locked to a >1 inch thick block of paper. (Depends on the book, of course. Definitely true for novels and non-fiction books, but not for technical books or reference books.)

[Glory]

Originally Posted by obfusciatrist

While I understand wanting ebooks to be cheaper (and so far every one of the couple hundred I've bought has been and certainly never more expensive) than the paper version I just look at it this way:

I was willing to pay $X for the ability to read book Y. I didn't say "well, based on my estimate on how much it cost to manufacture this physical book I'm willing to pay $X" just "I want to read this and I'm willing to pay $X to do so."

The book being in an electronic format doesn't change that math for me. That's not to say cost is irrelevant to me, just that justification of cost is irrelevant to me.

See, I can't afford my book habit. I easily read 2-3 books per week (which I know, is small potatoes around here). I only buy 2-3 books per year (books I checked out of the library and loved so much I had to own). I already think book costs are prohibitive.

[obfusciatrist]

Aboslutely, I'm fortunate in that I'm in a financial position where I can easily support whatever book habit I want.

But that wasn't always the case. And if it is the case again, it'll change how much I'm willing to spend on a book, but that decision won't be impacted by how well the publisher can justify the price they're charging.

[Gangster Octopus]

Actually one reason I want an eReader is because for my work I have to read a lot of PDFs and take them with me. It would be so much easier to store them on eReader. Of course the books is another reason, and I agree with obfusciatrist about the cost. I don't care on the format just whether or not I want to spend the money for the ability to read the book.

[Lynn Bodoni]

Originally Posted by obfusciatrist

While I understand wanting ebooks to be cheaper (and so far every one of the couple hundred I've bought has been and certainly never more expensive) than the paper version I just look at it this way:

I was willing to pay $X for the ability to read book Y. I didn't say "well, based on my estimate on how much it cost to manufacture this physical book I'm willing to pay $X" just "I want to read this and I'm willing to pay $X to do so."

The book being in an electronic format doesn't change that math for me. That's not to say cost is irrelevant to me, just that justification of cost is irrelevant to me.

If I think that a widget manufacturer is price gouging, I don't buy widgets from that manufacturer if I have a choice. Sure, there are people who are willing to pay $30 or so for a hardback novel when it first comes out. I am only willing to pay that much for a very few novels. I read most books in paperback, and used paperback at that. I do support some authors by buying their works new. However, I will only read a John Grisham or Steven King novel if I borrowed it from the library, or I found it on the clearance shelf at Half Price Books for one or two dollars. I'm not willing to spend more money than that to read those particular authors.

Originally Posted by scr4

I agree. In fact, I may be willing to pay extra for the convenience of having it on my Kindle, rather than having the content locked to a >1 inch thick block of paper. (Depends on the book, of course. Definitely true for novels and non-fiction books, but not for technical books or reference books.)

I view an ereader and the books I might or not have on it as something that offers me LESS convenience, not more. So that affects my perception of the value of an ebook. How often does an ereader need to be charged? What special care does it need? And frankly, I really don't want to do any more research about which ereader has which feature...I'm burned out on researching various vehicles and appliances and other technologies. And I'm burned out on learning how to USE new gadgets.

[Lynn Bodoni]

I should note that I find it harder to read words (and view images) on a screen than on paper. The comic Order Of The Stick is available online, and yet I am willing to shell out between $25 and $30 for dead tree versions, because they are a heck of a lot easier for me to read. In fact, I wasn't hooked on the online version until the local comic shop owner told me that I really should give the series a try. It's not impossible for me to read from a screen, obviously, but it's much easier for me to read something that's not on a screen.

[silenus]

Well, my Kindle DX needs charging about once every month, and it is a back-saver. Rather than having to pack several books whenever I go on vacation or off to a tournament, I just pack the Kindle. The sucker is light, thin and even my 94 year old mother figured out how to use it in less than 5 minutes. The screen is the size of a regular hard-bound book, which means I can store textbooks on it as well. It's just what I need. The iPad, however, is not. It is bulky, back-lit and useless. If I want to carry the laptop, I'll carry the laptop. If I want to read, I'll carry the Kindle. At last count I had 100+ books, 3 magazines and a few notes on it, and I haven't even begun to use its memory.

[sparky!]

Originally Posted by Lynn Bodoni

I should note that I find it harder to read words (and view images) on a screen than on paper. The comic Order Of The Stick is available online, and yet I am willing to shell out between $25 and $30 for dead tree versions, because they are a heck of a lot easier for me to read. In fact, I wasn't hooked on the online version until the local comic shop owner told me that I really should give the series a try. It's not impossible for me to read from a screen, obviously, but it's much easier for me to read something that's not on a screen.

I HATE trying to read text on a computer and so assumed that I'd feel the same way about an eReader. However, I don't mind at all reading on my Kindle for iPhone app. In fact I enjoy it so much that I prefer reading via the Kindle vs paper books.

Figured I'd share since I was surprised by it.

[scr4]

Originally Posted by Lynn Bodoni

If I think that a widget manufacturer is price gouging, I don't buy widgets from that manufacturer if I have a choice.

Every manufacturer (and vendor) charges what the market will bear.

I view an ereader and the books I might or not have on it as something that offers me LESS convenience, not more.

I guess that depends on whether you find it easier to carry a book or an eBook reader. I carry my Kindle all the time because it's no more bulky than one paperback.

How often does an ereader need to be charged?

For the Kindle-2, if you keep the wireless off and using it an hour or so per day, the battery should last at least 10 days, probably more.

What special care does it need?

I keep it in a slip case so the screen doesn't get scratched. That's about it.

And frankly, I really don't want to do any more research about which ereader has which feature...I'm burned out on researching various vehicles and appliances and other technologies. And I'm burned out on learning how to USE new gadgets.

Get the Kindle-2 if you want the simplest reader. Get the Nook if you want a more flashy (but more complicated, and heavier) device.

[Frylock]

Wiat, there are ebooks that are more expensive than their paper counterparts?

I've bought a lot of Kindle books and I've never seen that. Not that I don't believe it happens--I'm just surprised that there are people to whom it has seemed typical.

[maladroit]

I'm glad ereaders are getting cheaper. Personally I'm waiting till the market resolves itself so I don't end up with the Betamax ereader, and find myself blocked from the material I most want to access. As others have stated upthread, I'm not interested in comparing any more features, and I'm not interested in being first to have new tech (not that its that new anymore, but still pretty young.)

I'm also not sure I will be able to control impulsive purchases of books, either (think kid, candystore).

[Tully Mars]

Originally Posted by Frylock

Wiat, there are ebooks that are more expensive than their paper counterparts?

I'm with you one this. I've been buying from the Sony ebookstore and I've been paying less than I typically pay for a hard copy book. I checked on the one I'm currently reading, American Lion (Andrew Jackson bio)

Sony ebook: $9.99
Amazon paperback: $12.24
Amazon hardcover: $24.98

I understand the argument that the publisher has much less overhead in delivering an ebook. However, my personal opinion is that I would rather they price ebooks at a price that makes the profit more attractive to them and to the authors so that more ebooks become available. When ebooks become THE WAY to publish and distribute, then let the price wars begin.

[Thudlow Boink]

Originally Posted by Lynn Bodoni

I don't care about the cost of the readers as much as I care about the cost of the books. I think that the cost of an ebook is way, way too high. Yes, there are some great bargains available, especially on classic books. But there are also great bargains available for dead tree editions, too.

Originally Posted by Edward The Head

I've thought a time or two about getting some sort of e-reader. But when I see the prices of books at or above the price I can get a real book for then I stop thinking about it.

This is very much the way I feel about it. I'm tempted by the ability to carry around lots of books with me in a small space, and by the portable, easy-on-the-eyes way of reading PDF and other text files. But I already have lots of physical books on my shelves that I want to read when I can find the time—and hundreds of others on my wish lists. Buying something like a Kindle would only make the backlog stack grow higher.

Now, if only I could "rip" my physical books to a Kindle, the way I can rip my CDs to an MP3 player. Then I'd buy one in a heartbeat!

Originally Posted by Frylock

Wiat, there are ebooks that are more expensive than their paper counterparts?

I've bought a lot of Kindle books and I've never seen that. Not that I don't believe it happens--I'm just surprised that there are people to whom it has seemed typical.

Originally Posted by Tully Mars

I'm with you one this. I've been buying from the Sony ebookstore and I've been paying less than I typically pay for a hard copy book. I checked on the one I'm currently reading, American Lion (Andrew Jackson bio)

Sony ebook: $9.99
Amazon paperback: $12.24
Amazon hardcover: $24.98

Remaindered hardcover or paperback: usually, significantly less than $9.99
Used copy of book: It depends, but often way, way less than $9.99.

Only a very small fraction of the books I buy are new books, very recently published—and of those that are, I can get some of them at BOMC2.com for $9.99. So why should I pay for an electronic file when I can get a real, physical thing that I can hold in my hands and look at and smell and touch and squeeze and love for the same or less. (And, ETA, if I decide I don't want to keep it, I can sell, trade, or give it away.)

[obfusciatrist]

Originally Posted by Thudlow Boink

Buying something like a Kindle would only make the backlog stack grow higher.

I by no means claim an eReader is for everybody, it certainly isn't.

But on the issue of the backlog I found my Kindle had the opposite impact. The thing that drove having 25 books around my nightstand waiting to be read were:

1. Not wanting to end up finishing a book with nothing else to read. Nothing more dreadful than finishing a book in bed and having nothing I want to read available for the train ride in the morning.

2. Knowing I'd like to read a particular book but fearing I'd forget about it should I wait or lose access to it. Sure, I'm not in the mood to read that book on string theory right now but I know I will be in a couple months. But if I don't buy it now I'll never remember to buy it then.

With the Kindle I don't have to worry about those things at all. When I finish a book I can shop for the next one from where I am. I see an author interviewed on the Daily Show and I can be reading the book (frequently, they're not always available but then they wouldn't be available to me in paper form either) in bed before the interview is done. I can put books of future interest on my wish list and wait until I'm actually ready to buy them.

As for price, I personally am not willing to pay more than $10 for most books (not because of cost of manufacture but just because of personal threshold) and end up paying less than I did for paper books for the most part. And free for all the public domain stuff I read, which was never the case with paper books where they generally cost at least a dollar in the used bookstore.

But if it weren't for the always available shopping on the Kindle, I'd probably still be reading paper books (which I thought there was no way in hell I'd abandon when I bought a Kindle 2.5 years ago expecting to return it within the 30 day window).

[Frylock]

Originally Posted by Thudlow Boink

Only a very small fraction of the books I buy are new books,

That explains it. If that's what Lynn and others were talking about as well, then it looks to me as though ebooks can never be satisfactory for you guys. There'd have to be a "used e-book market" and that doesn't sound possible to me.

But the fact remains that, as far as I know, new books tend to be more expensive than their corresponding ebooks.

[Frylock]

Originally Posted by Thudlow Boink

a real, physical thing that I can hold in my hands and look at and smell and touch and squeeze and love for the same or less.

BTW this seems to be a roughly generational thing--roughly!--and certainly a "two kinds of people in the world" phenomenon.

The idea of valuing that which I can "smell and touch and squeeze and love" over an electronic file--assuming we're talking about texts--is completely alien to me. I can't fathom it to be honest.

It's text. You don't smell it, you read it.

On the other hand, I do have one concern about the lack of physicality of ebooks. Part of my upbringing was the fact that there were always these wonderful books on shelves in my house that I could wander up to, rifle through, find something interesting, get lost in and so on--and I admit I'm kind of nervous about the fact that my kids--or perhaps their kids since I do still have a lot of physical books back from before my e-book days--won't have this experience. Will they have a roughly equivalent experience when it comes to browsing through libraries of e-texts online? Perhaps--but it won't be my "library" like the one I browsed through as a kid was my parents'. This does make me a little sad I have to admit--though I'm not sure whether it should.

[Markxxx]

Originally Posted by Lynn Bodoni

I don't care about the cost of the readers as much as I care about the cost of the books.

Thank you AMEN. At last someone gets it

I think this would be solved through libraries though. I mean books on tape are expensive, but I get all mine through the library. And let's face it, if I wanted it illegally torrents and eMule are always there.

[Lynn Bodoni]

Originally Posted by Frylock

That explains it. If that's what Lynn and others were talking about as well, then it looks to me as though ebooks can never be satisfactory for you guys. There'd have to be a "used e-book market" and that doesn't sound possible to me.

But the fact remains that, as far as I know, new books tend to be more expensive than their corresponding ebooks.

I would and could buy new hardbacks for all of my reading material, that is, I can afford it. However, I'm only willing to buy a few authors in new hardbacks. There are more authors that I'm willing to buy in new PB. And there are some authors that I will only buy in used PBs, and other authors that I'll only buy in CLEARANCE used PBs (Stephen King and John Grisham, as I said earlier), which cost one or two dollars. I'm willing to buy new HB books if I know that I'm very likely to read and re-read the book several times, whereas with the clearance PBs, I'm almost certain to read the books once and donate them to charity afterwards. More than half of my preferred reading is in the "new PB" category, that is, if all other things were equal, if I could choose to buy any book in any of the price categories, I'll probably pick new PBs to buy first. Most of the books that I want don't even come out in hardback, only in PB! And it seems that most of the Kindle versions of the books that I'm interested in cost $9.99 and up. This is more expensive than most new paperbacks. An ebook might be cheaper or more expensive than the hardcover.

Also, checking my wish list, a lot of this seems moot. There's no Kindle version available of a lot of the books I want.

I DO see a lot of older books being offered at very attractive prices, though. If this trend continues, I might have to get a Kindle, just to get copies of the older books. One disadvantage of buying used books is that you never know what they might have been subjected to, and a lot of times I've bought a copy of a book that I desperately wanted, even though the copy was in bad shape.

[Thudlow Boink]

Originally Posted by Frylock

That explains it. If that's what Lynn and others were talking about as well, then it looks to me as though ebooks can never be satisfactory for you guys. There'd have to be a "used e-book market" and that doesn't sound possible to me.

The thing is, it seems to me that right now the Kindle is being marketed mainly to that subset of the book-buying public that regularly buys new, recently published hardbacks—but that they could, and quite possibly will, broaden their appeal if and when the pricing structure changes. There doesn't necessarily have to be a "used e-book market," but there does have to be a way to appeal to people who are interested in a book but not interested enough to pay $24.98, or even $9.99, for it. An electronic equivalent of the way books are first released in hardcover, then later in significantly cheaper paperback and/or mass-market paperback, and sometimes as remainders or discount copies.

Maybe there would be some sort of equivalent to hardback and paperback versions of e-books, with the "hardback" versions being more expensive but somehow having extra content or prestige (fancy illustrations? author interviews?). Maybe an e-book would start out fairly expensive when it's first released, and gradually decrease over time until it costs less than a new paperback. Maybe once a book gets to where used copies are going for less than a dollar (not counting shipping) on the Amazon marketplace, the e-book will be available for a couple dollars.

[obfusciatrist]

Generally there already is "hardcover" and "paperback" pricing on Kindle ebooks. Generally once a hardcover book comes out in paperback the price comes down on the Kindle version as well (though not always and not always immediately, there's a lot of tussling going on between Amazon and the publishers over pricing).

But yeah, it is definitely true that if you acquire most of your books used or from libraries, are happy with that (as a lapsed librarian I'm a heretic in that I hate using libraries for recreational reading) and don't place much value on the technological benefits then an eReader is definitely not for you and it is a wonderful world to live in where everybody can do it in the way they prefer.

[Tully Mars]

Originally Posted by Lynn Bodoni

And there are some authors that I will only buy in used PBs, and other authors that I'll only buy in CLEARANCE used PBs (Stephen King and John Grisham, as I said earlier), which cost one or two dollars.

Where, please? Because, if it's here in Fort Worth, I would love to go browsing.

Originally Posted by Lynn Bodoni

Also, checking my wish list, a lot of this seems moot. There's no Kindle version available of a lot of the books I want.

That is a problem, but it's getting better. Fortunately, my free time for reading has been so limited since I got the ereader that I have not had a problem running out of things to read.

I am hoping that, in time, we will see the same thing happen that has happened with movies with the $5 bin at Walmart. Maybe, the publishers will re-release some older stuff that I can see spending $5 to read again.

[Lynn Bodoni]

Where, please? Because, if it's here in Fort Worth, I would love to go browsing.

I go to the Half Price Books on Hulen (near Hulen mall) and I35 S (exit 1187) mostly http://maps.google.com/maps?oe=utf-8...ed=0CE4QtQMwAw which are locations C and F. Both stores have clearance shelves in the back, ask about them if you don't see them. Probably other HPB locations also have clearance shelves. The selection on those shelves is even more variable than the regular selection. My daughter worked for HPB for a while, and she says that part of her responsibilities were to check her designated section each day, and to pull out any books that had been there too long, and move them to the clearance section. If a book stayed in the clearance section too long, then it was pulled and recycled.

There's also a section for remaindered/overstock books in HPB. At least, I assume that they're remaindered or overstocks, as they have several copies of the same title which appears to be new, not used.

Most of the stuff in these sections is, predictably, crap. Or so it seems to me. However, there are gems in these areas often enough that I'm willing to search through the shelves. And, of course, one man's trash is another man's treasure.

[Lynn Bodoni]

::grumble:: Ignore my references to locations C and F above, it looks like the location tags change according to how the map is positioned.

[Tully Mars]

Originally Posted by Lynn Bodoni

I go to the Half Price Books on Hulen (near Hulen mall) and I35 S (exit 1187)

I know where that one is. There is a HPB closer to home in Bedford.

I can remember when the whole store used to be like you describe the clearance rack. Now, it's mostly mass-market paperbacks and recent hard covers at half of the the jacket price. However, half of the jacket price is close to the same price you can find them for new at Target or Sams. It's still a neat place to go browse after dinner on a night out, though.

[Lynn Bodoni]

The woman who started the chain was very concerned about ecology and getting bargains for her customers. I think that when she was still alive, the stores would hold onto the books longer, to allow them to be sold. I think that the chain now has policies which move the unsold books to the clearance racks, and then to the recycling bin, much more quickly, and I think that's a mistake. Not everyone is going to go bookshopping every week or 10 days. However, I'm not the one who makes the policies. I just make sure to hit the clearance racks first when I do go shopping in one of those stores.

Yeah, the HB prices are close to the same price that you'll find at Target or Sam's...but Target and Sam's have a much narrower selection. I very much doubt that I'd find a science fiction or fantasy title in HB in one of those stores, for instance. Heck, it's hard enough to find SF/fantasy in PB in those stores!

I live at I35 and Seminary/820 (south side, not north side), so those are the HPBs that I'm most familiar with.

[pepperlandgirl]

Originally Posted by Frylock

That explains it. If that's what Lynn and others were talking about as well, then it looks to me as though ebooks can never be satisfactory for you guys. There'd have to be a "used e-book market" and that doesn't sound possible to me.

But the fact remains that, as far as I know, new books tend to be more expensive than their corresponding ebooks.

Oh, it's possible to have a used ebook market. People do it all the time. It's just not legal.

The current ebook pricing issues are very, very complicated and seem to be growing more complicated by the week. New York (publishers) is busy trying to reinvent the wheel to be as dysfunctional and counter-intuitive as the rest of publishing. Meanwhile, independent epubs have long ago solved many of the pricing issues (and all the related royalty issues and turning a profit issues) long ago and have been chugging along quite happily. If you think it's frustrating as a consumer, imagine how frustrating it must be to have your livelihood depend on this clusterfuck.

[Biffy the Elephant Shrew]

Originally Posted by Lynn Bodoni

I should note that I find it harder to read words (and view images) on a screen than on paper.

I've just recently started trying out a few books from Amazon's Kindle Store, using a Kindle app on my laptop and my iPod Touch. I have no problem with reading text on the backlit screen, but I sure do have a problem with the pervasive scanning errors. I read a story about the firebombing of London in WW2, in which the word "burn" naturally occurs frequently; it almost invariably appears as "bum"! Another frequent problem is quotation marks being transcribed as letters (usually C). This seriously devalues the ebook experience for me.

[Frylock]

Originally Posted by pepperlandgirl

Oh, it's possible to have a used ebook market. People do it all the time. It's just not legal.

Really? I'd think in any such "market" the ebooks would very quickly of necessity become free.

[obfusciatrist]

Not necessarily. For example Amazon could (relatively easily) create a system wherein, for a price I relinquish rights to my digital copy of Book X purchased from them and transfer those rights to another person.

And whenever I log into the network Amazon deletes any titles I've sold (in case I restore my copy from another back up source). Sure, I could "steal" a copy this way but only if I never again let my Kindle connect to the internet. They could even take a cut for themselves and another royalty for the author/publisher.

The Nook already does this to a degree with their lending feature. Where you can loan a digital book to another person for two weeks and for that period the book is no longer available on your Nook.

[pepperlandgirl]

Originally Posted by Frylock

Really? I'd think in any such "market" the ebooks would very quickly of necessity become free.

It does. Ebooks are pirated all over the place. But there are a few industrious jerks on ebay who sell their "used" ebooks in lots.

[DMark]

I am actually kind of surprised it is taking this long for the prices to lower.
You would think publishers would give these away so people buy more books.
I am thinking of printers attached to computers - they used to be expensive, but now cost practically pennies - as the toner is the real money maker.
Well, if an extra 10 million eReaders were in the hands of customers, my guess is that would make a lot of book publishers quite happy.
It is a lot easier to have a huge catalog of book titles (allowing new writers a chance) if you do NOT have to have huge warehouses to store the books that are not sold.
List 100,000 new titles per year and see what sells - if it is all digital, it is all gravy when they sell. And if an author only sells four books, so what? Minimal loss on advertising and editing fees - otherwise, who cares? If another unknown, new writer suddenly becomes a big hit - hey, we can send 3 million copies to the eReaders tomorrow morning. No need to rush off to the presses and kill trees.

[jackdavinci]

I would love an iPad, because I have a bunch of things on my computer that I've been meaning to read but I just can't read long documents on a computer screen / in my desk chair. iPad/eReader is still a technology with pros and cons though, so I am not entirely surprised that the prices are not super low yet (although I wouldn't expect them to be as high as audio books which require so much extra labor)...

Pros:
Searchable! Portable! Shrinkable!

Cons:
Screen readability? DRM! Compatibility? DRM! Inheritability!

[Atrael]

I think a huge aspect that the publishers are missing is letting you have both formats together. When I buy a CD or DVD, I can take the content of those, and put it in a digital format that I can take with me wherever I go to watch or listen to. I'd like the same option for books. So when I purchase a paperback or hardback book, give me the digital version at the same time....or at least offer to let me purchase the digital version for a lower fee...say $1 or $2. This will start moving your die hard 'physical book' people to eReaders and eBook formats.

[even sven]

It just depends on who you are.

I recently started reading Kindle books on my iPhone and computer because it's the only real way I have to get English-language books in my part of China. I love that I can get books that are banned.

I've grown to love it. The instant gratification is awesome. If someone mentions a book in a thread, in literally two minutes I can be reading it. I do a lot of travel and read fast, so I love that I can have my choice of twenty books when I go on one of those sixteen hour train rides instead of having to lug a couple heavy books that I'll probably finish and have to abandon somewhere. It's also great for when I'm out and about. I can read on the bus or while eating lunch without committing to hauling a book around all day.

I enjoy having a personal dead tree "library," but honestly it's gotten out of control. I go through piles of books. I've got books in a million places all over my house, and I've got a tiny house. Kindle has cut down on my book clutter. And when I move, I don't have to worry about how I'm going to deal with all the heavy books.

[Thudlow Boink]

Originally Posted by Atrael

I think a huge aspect that the publishers are missing is letting you have both formats together. When I buy a CD or DVD, I can take the content of those, and put it in a digital format that I can take with me wherever I go to watch or listen to. I'd like the same option for books. So when I purchase a paperback or hardback book, give me the digital version at the same time....or at least offer to let me purchase the digital version for a lower fee...say $1 or $2. This will start moving your die hard 'physical book' people to eReaders and eBook formats.

I said earlier that I would love the ability to "rip" books the way I can with CDs—to be able to stick a physical book in my computer and have it produce an electronic file. I don't anticipate this happening any time soon, of course. But I could imagine a system whereby I'd have access to a downloadable electronic verison of a book if I could prove I owned the physical book. The trouble is, I can imagine several feasable ways this might be implemented, but all would involve some additional trouble and expense for the publishers, who aren't going to want to do it unless there's something in it for them. And there probably isn't, for many of the books I'd want to "rip," like older books that I already own.

[NetTrekker]

Originally Posted by Gangster Octopus

Actually one reason I want an eReader is because for my work I have to read a lot of PDFs and take them with me. It would be so much easier to store them on eReader. Of course the books is another reason, and I agree with obfusciatrist about the cost. I don't care on the format just whether or not I want to spend the money for the ability to read the book.

I'm thinking about springing for one of these soon. I'd rather stay under $150. Borders has a new Kobo reader coming out next month for $140 but no one seems to talk about that brand...I'm not sure why. I prefer to avoid proprietary hardware/media like Amazon/Kindle. I have set up an ebook library account on Borders and grabbed a few free classics, which is what steered me toward the Kobo:

http://www.zdnet.com/blog/mobile-gad...s-ereader/3935

Anyone familiar with these? I too would not be very concerned about prices of ebooks since I would just get free or library titles and load it up with a lot of PDF stuff from online, company annual reports, etc. It would be very convenient to have all that easily-portable reading material when I'm out and about and have a little time to kill.

[Mama Zappa]

Originally Posted by Glory

Sony Reader is getting hooked up with libraries. I can check out ebooks from the San Diego library system. Selection isn't big, but 97.8% of my reading is via library. Whoever wins the library war, wins me!

Ditto!

I'm not spending anything on a dedicated reader anytime soon, but the first one to have significant support from the library system - or at the very least, the option of *renting* books for a few weeks for a nominal fee - will be the one I buy.

[Johnny Angel]

Originally Posted by Gangster Octopus

Actually one reason I want an eReader is because for my work I have to read a lot of PDFs and take them with me. It would be so much easier to store them on eReader. Of course the books is another reason, and I agree with obfusciatrist about the cost. I don't care on the format just whether or not I want to spend the money for the ability to read the book.

I'd like to get a good look at how well the Kindle handles PDFs. Much of my research involves out-of-copyright works that are available in text from Project Gutenberg or in PDF format from Google Books or Archive.org. My Netbook makes these usable anywhere I can set it down and open it up, but a lightweight dedicated book reader would expand the possibilities a lot further.

I don't suppose anyone can tell me how well these readers handle PDFs? Or whether the text readers can handle ISO 8859-1 character sets?

[Justin_Bailey]

Originally Posted by Mama Zappa

Ditto!

I'm not spending anything on a dedicated reader anytime soon, but the first one to have significant support from the library system - or at the very least, the option of *renting* books for a few weeks for a nominal fee - will be the one I buy.

Most Sony Readers and the Nook are compatible with my county's library system. The Nook really seems like the way to go right now as far as selection and features go.