Why are ebooks so expensive?

[Alisa]

Originally Posted by Alfy

I still balk at the idea that people over 50 are as tech savvy as younger people. however, it is pretty logical that anyone who is and has embraced eBooks would be present on this forum!

I'm 37 now. I've been a tech geek for over 13 years. I can't imagine another 13 will beat it out of me.

[mtravellerh]

I'll be 49 tomorrow and been a tech junkie as long as I care to remember.

C64, anyone? Whistling modems, anyone? Ah, those were the times. Actually, no. These times are (from a technical point of view) tons better.

[nrapallo]

Originally Posted by mtravellerh

I'll be 49 tomorrow and been a tech junkie as long as I care to remember.

C64, anyone? Whistling modems, anyone? Ah, those were the times. Actually, no. These times are (from a technical point of view) tons better.

Yep, the Mighty Mo (300 Baud) was my first C64 modem! My memory hasn't started to fail me yet; I'm only a couple years younger than you!

I've been a techie/mathie all my life, but earn my bread and butter in Finance & Accounting i.e. CFO.

Go figure!

[mtravellerh]

Originally Posted by nrapallo

Yep, the Mighty Mo (300 Baud) was my first C64 modem! My memory hasn't started to fail me yet; I'm only a couple years younger than you!

I've been a techie/mathie all my life, but earn my bread and butter in Finance & Accounting i.e. CFO.

Go figure!

I never earned money with computers per se. I just used and use them for my jobs and for my private life.

[KindleDude]

Originally Posted by Alfy

Nope, I'm not. But I guess YOU are over 40!

First off, I was mainly talking about the people over 50, and yes, I would readily admit there will be a number of exceptions. But come on, MOST of the people over 50 are not tech-savy in the broader sense. They might learn how to use any device, but it is not as much a part of their lives. Think of it: who would have thought 20 years ago you would go to your computer to buy a BOOK??? For me, it's perfectly normal. For my parents, it's science fiction.

However, and in order to show respect for age, I have edited my post above.

I can't tell you how much I resent this statement. It is a highly prejudiced over-generalization. I'm 51, and I'm often helping 30 year-olds in my office with computer issues. I also have a rather new but somewhat successful blog., and I know HTML. Oh, and eBooks are a substantial portion of my reading. Try, please, to remember that people are all individuals with varying interests and capabilities.

[KindleDude]

There are ways to get deals on eBooks. Fictionwise gives rebates which can be substantial, so you can buy one book and often get another for free or very little. Random House is currently giving away a list of 9 (as I recall) books for free for the Kindle and also on Fictionwise. Sci-fi and fantasy imprint Orbit is selling one book a month for a dollar for the Kindle, and that book is further discounted to 0 at Fictionwise.

One just has to keep ones eyes open.

[griffonwing]

Originally Posted by desertgrandma

Griffonwing!! Neighbor!!! Well, used to be........I lived in Mountain Home for 12 years....welcome!

Ahh. My alma mater's life-long rival!

[DaleDe]

Originally Posted by mtravellerh

I'll be 49 tomorrow and been a tech junkie as long as I care to remember.

C64, anyone? Whistling modems, anyone? Ah, those were the times. Actually, no. These times are (from a technical point of view) tons better.

C64, youngster! I bought my first home computer in early 1978. It was a Commodore Pet. I still have it and I extended the RAM a bit. It was fun to program and easy to understand. Some of the new stuff is a little more complex . Even tech junkie's retire at some point but they never retire from being a tech junkie, they just fade away.

Dale

[pilotbob]

Originally Posted by KindleDude

I'm 51, and I'm often helping 30 year-olds in my office with computer issues. I also have a rather new but somewhat successful blog., and I know HTML.

Yea.. same here. My kids (teens) can use a computer. But, they don't know much about them. Having grown up with Unix, DOS and the command line, which are the underpinnings of Windows and OSx I am amazed at the level of apathy people have about PC's these days. They don't even know what folders, paths, shells and command lines are.

There are 10 kinds of people in this world... people who know binary and people who don't!

BOb

[Alisa]

Originally Posted by pilotbob

Having grown up with Unix, DOS and the command line, which are the underpinnings of Windows and OSx I am amazed at the level of apathy people have about PC's these days. They don't even know what folders, paths, shells and command lines are.

So true. My first Internet account was a Unix shell, and back then the Internet was email and Usenet. *waves cane* These days Linux has become so GUI-fied and user-friendly that even my aforementioned luddite sister uses Ubuntu quite easily. She inherited my old laptop with Ubuntu on it and she only rarely needs tech support from me. I have people with Linux systems in my office that only use the terminal for telnetting to devices (networking company). They do everything else through the Gnome GUI tools. I think this is good for its future as a consumer OS, but I think it gives you a greater understanding of the systems when you interact with the configurations more directly.

[Elfwreck]

Originally Posted by Alfy

I still balk at the idea that people over 50 are as tech savvy as younger people.

I'll support that.

My father, who is in his mid-60's and nearing retirement, was approached by one of his managers last week. They said they were getting him an iPod for his great dedication to work, because he almost never calls in sick. (He has several months of sick leave time built up. Last year, I think he took 2 days off--both doctor checkups. One for side-effects of a work injury a few years ago.)

He asked me, "what's an iPod?"

Followed by, "what's an MP3?"

I think I got as far as "it's like a Walkman, only it plays digital files instead of tapes."

I now have a 1gb iPod Shuffle. He wouldn't mind keeping it, except he has no interest in popular music, no idea how to acquire it (he can kinda-sorta play movie DVDs on the computer, but the mouse is still rather baffling to him--internet is right out), and really would prefer a device that gets radio stations.

He might like an ebook reader--if someone else dealt with getting books onto it. He's certainly not going to bother learning how to navigate the net looking for things to read.

[DaleDe]

Originally Posted by Elfwreck

I'll support that.

My father, who is in his mid-60's and nearing retirement, was approached by one of his managers last week. They said they were getting him an iPod for his great dedication to work, because he almost never calls in sick. (He has several months of sick leave time built up. Last year, I think he took 2 days off--both doctor checkups. One for side-effects of a work injury a few years ago.)

Yea, and I tend to balk and the younger generation that takes everything for granted and knows nothing about how anything works. They just accept everything on the outside with understanding. I cut my teeth on a Bendix G-15 and move to IBM 360's from there.

Dale

[Libby Cone]

I'm in my fifties. I met my husband in 1995 on a bulletin board (there was no real Web yet) that offered text only, no images. We made our wedding invitations with my Macintosh. I wrote most of my first book (and am writing all of my second) with computers. Iupgraded my Linux software so I can type in Japanese. But I don't own a TV, and can barely use my cell phone!

[kazbates]

Back in my programing days, I started with punch cards and machine code!! Now as an elementary educator, I try to explain how the computer works not just what the kids can do with it. The majority are only interested in the software and don't care about the hardware - it's too easily replaceable to them. A new version of the Ipod comes out and they get it. A new version of the Nintendo DS comes out and they get it. They have no idea that at one time a computer the size of their bedroom was required to do the same kinds of processing that their laptop can do today.

But back to the original topic: Hopefully the prices of ebooks will drop as the technology takes a firmer hold on the market, just like PC's have done in the last few years. If the tiered pricing scheme that Apple is using with Itunes works, maybe publishing companies will use it. I wouldn't mind paying a little extra for an ebook if I can get it without the drm.

What can I say - I am a dreamer!!
Kaz

[jj2me]

Originally Posted by DaleDe

Yea, and I tend to balk and the younger generation that takes everything for granted and knows nothing about how anything works. They just accept everything on the outside with understanding. I cut my teeth on a Bendix G-15 and move to IBM 360's from there.

Dale

61 here, and I agree wholeheartedly. Many (not all) of the younger generation think they are so tech savvy because they can operate devices. Back when I started in the punched cards era, the operator job was entry-level.

I don't think that they appreciate the in-depth understanding of computers that many of their elders have because those elders wrote in assembly language (and debugged binary dumps), and then in low-level compiled languages, where we had to optimize compilers ourselves to get that precious speedup, or wrote our own compilers to port those languages to different computers, and were even able to alter code on the fly by using the front panel switches to insert instructions (in binary). Nor is it easy to understand that we used to have to work hard to get it right the first time because computer time was so precious. Today it's just compile-run-edit-compile-run-edit, which is more likely to result in sloppy, unreadable code (though we had our share of sloppy coders).

Our failings are many. Impatience, because we've seen and done it before. While a five-year old can learn all the settings on his digital watch, and remember them because it's his first watch, the old-timer has had hundreds of such gadgets, all with different ways to set the time, and gets impatient with yet another device that uses the buttons differently. It's truly boring to old-timers to try to figure out yet another "the niece of my brother-in-law married my cousin's wife" puzzle, so we don't play, and get dumber for it.

And short-term memory also fails rapidly. I used to have a stack of about 12, now I'm lucky if it's three. Never got beat in the card game Concentration when I was a kid. Then by about the time I turned 40, any kid could beat me (Me at 10: right brained, just knew where every card was. Me at 40: left-brained matrix memory [jack of spades 3 down, 2 to the right, 7 of diamonds first row, 2nd down, ...]).

We also were taught more timeless subjects in school. So we tend to value those things more than knowledge that expires in a few years. I was amazed when I interviewed a guy with a Ph.D in LSI (Large Scale Integration) because we had already passed VLSI (Very Large Scale Integration) and were at VVLSI (Very Very...). Why would he devote his brain and energy to such temporal pursuits? Why not math? (Maybe that's why Mathematicians and Statisticians were ranked 1 and 2 in job satisfaction in a recent survey.)

And we often talk like old grumps. Like this post.