MobileRead Forums - View Single Post - Random House to digitize thousands of books

orwell2k · 11-25-2008, 05:30 AM

This is fantastic news! Perhaps it will precipitate other publishing houses to follow suit?

I do hope they stick with a mutli-format approach to provide maximum options for customers. The annoying thing at the moment (although it is improving) is that some titles seem to be only available in Kindle, some others in Adobe, some in Mobi, etc. To have a publishing house seem to be adopting the approach of planning to provide eBooks in a variety of the most common formats for readers is awesome! The proof will be in the pudding, of course, but I am ever hopeful.

It's a pity they didn't really take the revolutionary plunge and try an alternative to DRM - maybe e-tagging of the book with name and credit card, etc. But I guess they're locked into whatever the current formats employ, and maybe the laws of the land?

Interesting also, since there was a discussion on eBook pricing recently, that they seem to tie their pricing into the paper versions of books:

$17.95 for electronic editions of hardcover titles
$9.95 for electronic editions of trade paperback titles
$6.99 for electronic editions of mass market titles

Not sure what relevance the binding of an edition has for the electronic price, except to justify higher prices? Perhaps this is just old info in their help section, that will change when they begin this mass digitization process? Or perhaps it's harder to digitise hardback books, although that sounds like a stretch to me for almost double the price. I guess also hardcover content tends to be more often things like text books, etc, that are more expensive? Or is it because they are hardcover that they are more expensive?

Anyway, good news overall...

11-25-2008, 05:30 AM	#18
orwell2k Addict Posts: 357 Karma: 1112 Join Date: Oct 2008 Location: Euroland Device: PocketBook 360°, BeBook (Hanlin V3), iRex DR1000S, iPad	This is fantastic news! Perhaps it will precipitate other publishing houses to follow suit? I do hope they stick with a mutli-format approach to provide maximum options for customers. The annoying thing at the moment (although it is improving) is that some titles seem to be only available in Kindle, some others in Adobe, some in Mobi, etc. To have a publishing house seem to be adopting the approach of planning to provide eBooks in a variety of the most common formats for readers is awesome! The proof will be in the pudding, of course, but I am ever hopeful. It's a pity they didn't really take the revolutionary plunge and try an alternative to DRM - maybe e-tagging of the book with name and credit card, etc. But I guess they're locked into whatever the current formats employ, and maybe the laws of the land? Interesting also, since there was a discussion on eBook pricing recently, that they seem to tie their pricing into the paper versions of books: $17.95 for electronic editions of hardcover titles $9.95 for electronic editions of trade paperback titles $6.99 for electronic editions of mass market titles Not sure what relevance the binding of an edition has for the electronic price, except to justify higher prices? Perhaps this is just old info in their help section, that will change when they begin this mass digitization process? Or perhaps it's harder to digitise hardback books, although that sounds like a stretch to me for almost double the price. I guess also hardcover content tends to be more often things like text books, etc, that are more expensive? Or is it because they are hardcover that they are more expensive? Anyway, good news overall...