Quote:
Originally Posted by ficbot
See, I think THAT is the 'innovative' argument. You are assuming that my hypothetical ebook purchase is REPLACING what would otherwise have been a hardback or paperback purchase, and for many people on this forum, that is not true at all....
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Actually there is no public proof either way of your assertions in this regard, hence the publishers' trepidation.
The fact that
you don't buy hardcovers does not necessarily reflect the buying habits of anyone else. Nor, I expect, do the buying habits of MR participants necessarily reflect those of the book-buying public or the mass market.
The only company that has any data at all on this point is Amazon, which in most cases has years of data on the buying habits of its customers, and it isn't just limited to books. It wouldn't be difficult for them to mine that data and make an educated guess of how their customers' buying habits change after they purchase a Kindle -- e.g. do they spend more or less on books, do they buy more books, do they buy fewer books but more DVD's, etc.
However, I do think we can guess a few things:
• Even if customer expenditures remain consistent (e.g. customer X buys $20 worth of books per month, before and after buying a Kindle), it is unlikely the customer will spend the money they have saved vs buying the hardcover on a book by the same publisher.
• It's pretty clear that dropping the retail price of a "new book" from $15, $20 or $25 to $9.99 will impact how consumers think of the value of books.
Quote:
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Originally Posted by ficbot
As for the 'benefit' you speak of---that is only true if the book is an unencumbered DRM. There is no use to me to have eleven million copies of a book in one format if my next device uses a different format and I can't read it anymore.
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Incorrect.
If I buy a paper book and I lose it somehow, it's gone unless I buy a new one. If I buy an ebook, back up my content regularly (either manually or using an automated system like Whispernet), and lose my ebook reading device, I haven't lost that content. Big advantage to an ebook, even with DRM.
If I buy a book from Amazon, I can read it on multiple devices and sync my notes, marks and last page read across those devices. If I get it from B&N, I can read it on even more devices (though info won't sync). Another advantage to ebooks, even with DRM.
There is also the "instant delivery without shipping costs," another advantage unaffected by DRM.
Again you lose certain abilities, but gain others. So it doesn't make sense to me that ebooks should cost less on this basis.