Quote:
Originally Posted by markbot
The paper version can also be resold, but this can be a hassle unless the price is high enough.
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On balance, consumers should be willing to purchase ebooks for a higher price than paper books in many cases.
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Not being able to resell the ebook knocks at least 25% of the list price off the value (that being what the used book shops pay for physical books).
And you haven't mentioned the cost of the ereader.
Until you've read a lot of ebooks on an ereader, the amortised cost of the ereader means that you are already paying a lot more for ebooks. For example, my current ereader, which is now over two years old, is still costing me over $2 per ebook read.
And then there is the general lack of quality in ebooks, either the bad formatting, the not fixing scan errors on any publishing of an ebook that was not originally released as an ebook (hello backlist), and, of course, the risk involved in DRM, where there is a very real possibility that you may loose access to the ebook you 'bought' if the company goes out of business (and as we've discovered, this is true even if the 'transfer' your ebooks to another vendor).