[Tierran]

eReader (formerly Peanut Press)...one of the most common places to get eBooks is the myserious place I go.

Anne McCaffrey's new Pern book is $24.95 in hardcover right now.

You can get it at Amazon for $20.46 after shipping.

Or you can get it for $16.16 at eReader.

[Tierran]

eReader (formerly Peanut Press)...one of the most common places to get eBooks is the myserious place I go.

Anne McCaffrey's new Pern book is $24.95 in hardcover right now.

You can get it at Amazon for $20.46 after shipping.

Or you can get it for $16.16 at eReader.

[pivaska]

I use either Haili Reader or MS Reader. So far I have not purchased an ebook because Gutenburg Press has a zillion of them for free. I just haven't caught up yet on those "I've always wanted to read." I read about an book every week and a half using a Dell Axim 51V and have not had any problems. Some people just need a "book" in their hands because "it feels right." When I started with my PDA it didn't feel right either but you get use to it. I can even read in the dark in bed and not disturb my wife.

[pjtrader]

I'm really not sure why everyone automatically assumes that ebooks should be cheaper than paper books. The money we pay isn't simply the cost of the paper, it includes the overhead of the publishing house, advances and royalties to the author, paying the editorial staff, sales, marketing, copy editor, art staff, etc. In fact, from most of the popular e-book sites the most sold books are those that are produced in print format. Most would even venture to say that ebook only produced books suffer because they do not generally have the quality in editorial staff, art, etc that the major publishers have.

With e-format, you have the electronic delivery and DRM concepts to handle. With paper, you have shipping and handling. So I think it's pretty naive of us to assume that just because we get our books in e-format that we deserve to have them at a substantial discount.

But that's just my 2cents worth...wholly unresearched and unsubstantiated.

[cgavula]

Originally Posted by Tierran

eReader (formerly Peanut Press)...one of the most common places to get eBooks is the myserious place I go.

Anne McCaffrey's new Pern book is $24.95 in hardcover right now.

You can get it at Amazon for $20.46 after shipping.

Or you can get it for $16.16 at eReader.

And Stephen R. Donaldson's The Runes of the Earth is $26.95 hardcover, but only $5.99 in paper and yet it's still $14.40 (best price) at ereader. That is definitely NOT cheaper. ereader often doesn't lower the prices of titles that have gone to paperback until LONG after they are out in paperback (never in some cases).

--Chris

[Tierran]

So what you're saying is that comparison shopping still is a smart thing to do. :roll:

[JonMisurda]

Originally Posted by cgavula

And Stephen R. Donaldson's The Runes of the Earth is $26.95 hardcover, but only $5.99 in paper and yet it's still $14.40 (best price) at ereader. That is definitely NOT cheaper. ereader often doesn't lower the prices of titles that have gone to paperback until LONG after they are out in paperback (never in some cases).

--Chris

It's $10.40 at amazon for the MS Reader version. I've found Amazon to be cheapest usually when they have the eBook.

Jon

[paschott]

Originally Posted by Tierran

So what you're saying is that comparison shopping still is a smart thing to do. :roll:

I think the point is that the eBook doesn't drop in price corresponding to the paper book. When a paperback is available and 1/3 the cost of an eBook, who's going to buy the eBook except for someone who wants the book in that format?

I still think that this pricing is one of the factors that keeps sales of e-books from being a success. Yes, it's cheaper than the hardcover when it first comes out. However, once I can get even the hardcover for less due to sellers wanting to move the hardcover out to make room for more books or whatever - it just doesn't make sense to buy an e-Book at that point pricewise. Add in the DRM restrictions of most formats (I think eReader has this DRM about as good as it gets - who wants to share their CC#?) and it's just not worth it for the consumer.

If it's not worth the price for the consumer, why should publishers support the format? They won't see sales and won't bother investing in the technology.

However, give me an e-Book when it comes out at close to paperback prices and/or drop the price accordingly with the current retail price of the book and I'll be interested. Don't try to sell me a book that's years old and available in the bargain bins @ bookstores at 4x the price.

I really wish I had some data about the actual costs involved to compare. I still think that the overhead would be much lower for an eBook just by getting around all of the middle-men and the difference in cost could be justified.

Interesting thread and concept. I'll be watching to see how the new technology develops as well.

-Pete

[Tierran]

I very often find ebooks priced lower too...I've never bought a book that was more than the paper back

[Felix Torres]

ebook pricing is all over the place.
The only constant is that, except for Baen, nobody prices ebooks cheaper than paperbacks as a policy.
DRM or no DRM, ebooks are massless and frictionless, and hence should not under any condition cost more than treeware, yet they are rarely discounted appropriately. Mostly because publishers only provide half-hearted support out of fear of piracy.

Personally, I see very little in the above-listed announcement.
It is a half-step forward but it does *nothing* to change the existing market dynamic where PDAs, Tablets, and the ebookwise reader are the only widely-available readers worth buying. And neither of the three platforms is exactly drawing crowds.
Basically, this is just another example of PR-ware echoed by a wishful-thinker.

For any ebook format announcement to show me any credibility it has to start by listing a firm commitment of full-catalog support by at least the top three publishers in the US. And that isn't hapenning any time soon.

[juni]

MS Reader isn't dead, it is still the best one out there in my opinion. The MS Word reader plugin is a great free tool for creating ebooks .

I only buy paper books if I can't find an ebook version. It feels weird holding a big book these days.