Quote:
Originally Posted by darryl
I strongly agree with you that the content is what is important, and we simply have the same content in different packages. It is at this point, how the packaging should affect the price, that we differ. As I understand it your view is that the price should be the same or higher for an ebook (as opposed to a print book) because it is the characteristics of an ebook that you value more, to the point where you are not interested in buying print books.
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Not quite. It's not that I think the price SHOULD be the same or higher. I'm perfectly happy that the price of an ebook is typically less then its physical counterpart. Precisely because they
are the same product in different packages (in my opinion), I feel quite lucky to realize
any savings when buying the version I personally value more. If they wanted to sell them for much, much less, I wouldn't complain. I just don't feel that I'm
entitled to them being much, much cheaper. I want them more than their physical counterparts, after all.
Quote:
Originally Posted by darryl
I am also not interested in buying print books and I also highly value the characteristics of an ebook. However, my view is that the lower costs associated with an ebook mean that the price should be lower than for a print book, despite the fact that I value this format over and above the print format. In fact, it would seem to be logical that the costs associated with producing a particular format are the first things looked at when setting a price.
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As a consumer, production costs (much like profits) are not my concern. The world is full of high-priced byproducts that cost very little to produce. I've never known those producers to pass their cost-savings on to me in the past, so I have no expectation that ebooks producers would do so either. Things don't typically get cheaper because production costs go down.