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I'm surprised I haven't seen media reviews of the reader point this out this issue.
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It takes too much time to notice such an issue, vampmiller -- the media is too busy bashing the Reader for not being a PDA to notice anything like a real issue with the ConnStore.
Do I understand you to say that you saw a Robert Parker book's price drop (a month or two after ) when it went from hard to paper back? Has it
stayed there?
That would actually be good news, because the ConnStore has had problems with prices popping back to their original hardback levels after changing (briefly) to the "paperback" ones. If they're sticking, that's an improvement, and if ConnStore is catching and lowering the prices on their own, even if they're slow about it, that's an improvement too, as it means they must have (or be in the process of) actually worked out a process to handle that.
ConnStore still has issues (and I don't mean comic books!), but they do seem to be making some improvements.
One thing you said I think may have been less than fully considered:
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With music you get a CD. With a movie you get DVD. You are not forced to buy the content in one format for 12 months at more than double the price it will be in a new format later on.
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That's completely true, of course, but that is precisely what happens with
books -- I go in and buy the latest hardback for ~$25 and 12~16 months later, I see it in paperback for $7 -- almost
1/4th the price.
Others see it differently, but I don't mind paying a bit of a premium to get a book (even an e-book) earlier, I don't think that a factor of four is acceptable for an e-book, because the publishing cost isn't any different for them like it is with hard/paper backs.
I think the pubs are needing a bit of time to work through these things, though, they've been doing things mostly the same way for over a hundred years, it's all too much for them to grasp at once -- especially when they're (most of them) doing their dead level best to
not think it through.
They'll come around eventually, I think. The example of music industry's travails seems to be instructive to them.
