Thread: JBL at Amazon
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Old 09-26-2010, 04:19 PM   #15
Ron46
Zealot
Ron46 doesn't litterRon46 doesn't litter
 
Posts: 103
Karma: 110
Join Date: Nov 2009
Location: Massachusetts
Device: JetbookLite, EB-1150, PalmIIIXE
Quote:
If it looks to be an issue I can usually
find the same book available at B&N
.

But check this out. I want to re-read Niel Sheehans- A Bright Shining Lie published in 1989.

Barnes and Noble $28
eReader .com (also B&N) $35
Amazon Kindle $10.31

B&N is charging the hard cover price with very little cost to them. Amazon is charging about what an ebook that is 20 years old is worth.

I have a major issue with B&N that almost amounts to an ETHICAL consideration. Just as I do when they sell soft cover public domain classics and charge $15-$20 for them. Retail prices are supposed to be based on SOME relationship to cost plus a reasonable markup- not just any price they think the market can bear.

I think Amazon got a feeling for this sentiment because they changed their marketing strategy significantly with the new Kindle. They even give you a link to the free books on ManyBooks without trying to get a piece of the action on what is in the public domain. I'm not saying Amazon is a paragon of ethical sensibility- they started out with 2 generations of an overpriced reader and were charging a small fee for public domain stuff, but at least they seem a little more tuned in to what is fair.

I will not deal with B&N, and even if they see the light and start dealing fairly with consumers, it's going to take me a long time to come back around to them.

I bought a Jetbook so I could read literature that Gutenberg's visionary founder considered almost a birthright 30 years ago without paying some capitalist robber baron. But now that I am willing to pay for more current works where there is a living author to compensate, I have an instinct about what is a fair price. And Barnes and Noble is not even close- to the point where when and if they go out of business, I will be in line to dance upon their grave.

Last edited by Ron46; 09-26-2010 at 04:22 PM. Reason: spelling
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