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Value .... differs with each of us, of course.
Hardbacks are intended to be either re-read or displayed -- coffee tables, bookcases, etc. They can be passed from one generation to the next. When I consider purchasing a hardback, it's under those considerations -- never to just get a new release before my neighbor reads it first. I can wait for fiction.
Paperbacks are cheap -- paper which yellows with age, and bindings which are often simply glued with materials that harden and crack with age. They are throwaways in the sense that you don't buy one to keep it for 20 years and re-read. You take them to the library or swap with a friend.
eBooks are also cheap, but they are in danger of obsolescence. If I buy an eBook from Amazon or B&N, it will have DRM 'protection'. If my Kindle breaks or becomes obsolete, my books are 'gone' unless I break the law and find a way to remove the DRM so I can re-visit that book on another reader. I must 'legally' trust Amazon/B&N to continue to allow me to 'un-archive' the book I paid for and download it to my next reading platform. I can 'loan' the book to another person if they have a compatible reader and for a limited time period, unlike a pBook which has no platform restriction and no time limit.
So, ultimately, an eBook is not as potentially 'valuable' as a physical copy aside from its 'read-once' capability. There is risk of obsolescence, and restrictions not common to pBooks. So even if the content is the same, the value of the media is not equal, even for paperbacks with limited shelf life.
I refuse to pay the same for an eBook that I pay for a pBook. There is no paper cost, no printing cost, no transportation cost, no bricks-and-mortar display cost -- only a web page and the same editing work. The profit to the author is (or should be) the same or greater than a paper copy that adds to the overhead. The bottom line for me is that there is no book for which I cannot wait for a competitive eBook price, no mystery or best seller or autobiography that 'must' be read this week and not next month or next year that is worth paying a premium for. Let's not rush to pay for services that we are not getting -- paying for the cost of materials that we are not receiving.
Yes, brick and mortar stores are in big trouble. As eReaders become as ubiquitous as cell phones, fewer people will stroll through bookstores to seek new material. Display copies for your coffee table and bookshelf will still be sold, but the mass market for paperback novels will shrivel and many stores will die, I suspect. But let's face reality and refuse to pay for the salary of a fireman on a diesel locomotive.
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