Quote:
Originally Posted by Kali Yuga
We did?!? Seems to me like lots of MR readers would've eviscerated you for saying as much in late 2009.  |
Yes. My entire ebook library, going back to 2003, cost me about 50% of the retail for pbook versions. To wit, there were a variety of pricing options. You could go to an everyday low price outlet like Amazon, or go to a big periodic sale places like eReader, or big rewards/membership places like fictionwise. It was very democratic. Those choices are gone, as is the representative function served by the retailers that drew particular types of consumers into the market.
Healthy markets ebb and flow. The creation of a completely new market wasn't without growing pains, but as I said, there was a strong voice for content producers and a strong voice for consumers that was shaping that market, and now one of those voices has been silenced. The long term ramifications of that will be worse than just higher prices.