MobileRead Forums - View Single Post - Barnes and Noble Nook press conference in NYC (report)

jdh2550 · 10-30-2009, 09:53 AM

Well, my prior last line was meant to carry a certain amount of irony - and really just highlights that greed is the ONLY "valid" reason I can see. Fear is a poor cousin to greed - after all these titans of industry should be able to educate themselves sufficiently to overcome misplaced fear.

I'll happily pay $30 to $50 for a reference work that I'll use on a regular basis (and heck, I regularly buy such books that I don't use on regular basis).

However, I have a hard time spending $10 on a fiction title that I'll read in a couple of days and then never look at again. Especially when I can get that material for "free" from the public library. I know libraries aren't free - but we've all already paid for them. I'd pay a subscription fee (say $10 to $15 per month?) for access to "privately run" library of ebooks.

I'm not trying to rip-off the authors. However, I've no interest in feeding the greed of a parasitic industry which tries to justify making more profit as a way of protecting artists (music first and now publishing).

I canceled my order. I'm sure B&N won't notice. However, when someone brings an e-reader to market with a reasonable price structure I'll jump in the pool again. Unfortunately it's a paradoxical problem - without decent adoption the technology won't thrive. However, with decent adoption the publishers will use that as a signal that it's OK to charge $10 for product (more than the paperback version) that costs far less than the paper equivalent and has far more restrictive usage patterns.

Greedy b*st*rds.

10-30-2009, 09:53 AM	#72
jdh2550 Junior Member Posts: 3 Karma: 10 Join Date: Oct 2009 Device: nook	Well, my prior last line was meant to carry a certain amount of irony - and really just highlights that greed is the ONLY "valid" reason I can see. Fear is a poor cousin to greed - after all these titans of industry should be able to educate themselves sufficiently to overcome misplaced fear. I'll happily pay $30 to $50 for a reference work that I'll use on a regular basis (and heck, I regularly buy such books that I don't use on regular basis). However, I have a hard time spending $10 on a fiction title that I'll read in a couple of days and then never look at again. Especially when I can get that material for "free" from the public library. I know libraries aren't free - but we've all already paid for them. I'd pay a subscription fee (say $10 to $15 per month?) for access to "privately run" library of ebooks. I'm not trying to rip-off the authors. However, I've no interest in feeding the greed of a parasitic industry which tries to justify making more profit as a way of protecting artists (music first and now publishing). I canceled my order. I'm sure B&N won't notice. However, when someone brings an e-reader to market with a reasonable price structure I'll jump in the pool again. Unfortunately it's a paradoxical problem - without decent adoption the technology won't thrive. However, with decent adoption the publishers will use that as a signal that it's OK to charge $10 for product (more than the paperback version) that costs far less than the paper equivalent and has far more restrictive usage patterns. Greedy bstrds.