I'll try to address some of your concerns.
Lower prices: Publishers like ePenguin are charging the same for ebooks as their pbooks.
Peguin is now releasing "Enhanced" versions of some classics.
Quote:
|
The new e-books, which will be compatible with all e-book devices, will feature an array of features, including a filmography, period book reviews, recipes and black-and-white illustrations. Price will be the same as the print edition, $8
|
Except in the case of Amazon (which subsidses it's ebooks), the price for the Enhanced books are very close to the Publisher's price.
Pride and Prejudice at Penguin Classics =
$8.00
Pride and Prejudice at BooksOnBoard = $7.16
Pride and Prejudice at Fictionwise =
$8.00 - $6.46
Pride and Prejudice at Amazon =
$.50
There are always other sources for classics (MobileRead, Feedbooks, Manybooks...) that won't cost a thing.
Pride and Prejudice at MobileRead (non-enhanced but illustrated) =
FREE
No DRM: Those who want to get past it will find a way and it causes problems for those who follow the law.
Most (not all) books come with some sort of DRM. Yes, some will override it but as long as *your* conscience is clear you should be good.
Publishers obviously don't put a lot of work into them.
Yeah, ebooks get treated like the poor step-child more often than not but that will change as they become more popular (and they are becoming more popular every year). Lots of bad formatting.
Even if my books are only digital, it would still be nice to be able to browse them by cover and not publishers logo.
I'm not sure how it works with Digital Editions but there are all kinds of tools available which can be used to change book covers. You can find a high resolution version of the hard cover book and substitute it (I pull mine from Amazon).
I don't know if you have limited sources available to you because of your location but hang around, I think you'll find more than one reason to jump in the ebook waters.
Oh and there's no reason you can't have paper *and* ebooks.