Quote:
Originally Posted by xwolfi
So the equivalent bundle would be 100 euros, 300% more expensive ! Translation and taxes can't explain this, only greed could don't you agree ?
|
It is partly, perhaps mainly, because of the different markets. The recommended prices differ from region to region, depending on what is established and accepted. You'll find the same in other areas too, e.g. electronics and video games, though the diffences are not as drastic as with books.
The situation is similar here in Germany. I wanted to pick up a copy of Dan Brown's Inferno a while ago and saw the e-book price tag of 20 euro (26 USD). No go. A couple of months ago I wanted to buy the Neverwinter Saga books in the German iBooks store. They only offered me the German translations and would not even let me buy the English originals. In both cases I bought nothing.
Sure, I could jump through hoops and fake my location, tunnel my connection or do all sorts of things to buy e-books at US prices, but I instead take the hint and vote with my wallet. I don't pay outlandish prices and I don't sneak around for the privilege of giving a publisher my money. In a world where there is no shortage of e-literature, and certainly no lack of ways to get what you want to read, market restrictions and vastly different pricing schemes for identical products are astonishingly short-sighted approaches.
More recently I started to buy from indie publishers and authors. Not only is this extremely affordable, but it is also offering access to books that don't follow the beaten track of whatever the large publishing houses deem worth printing (so much seems same-y).