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.