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While I prefer the Webscriptions model, I can understand the publishers wanting to keep the "dynamic pricing" model of Hardback, trade paperback, mass market paperback, where the cheap MMPB comes out about a year after the HB edition. In general, I have enough to read that I'm willing to wait for the MMPB (or equivalent priced ebook) to come out (or borrow it from the library).
My biggest concern is that ebook dynamic pricing doesn't have the book return feedback that paper books do. With paper books, if the publisher gets a lot of returns, he's crediting the bookstores, and (at least for HBs) ends up with stock to warehouse. With ebooks, there are no returns, so unless the publisher is attentive, there's no incentive to drop the price of an older backlist book. Sure, Macmillan claims that they'll drop ebooks to $5.99, but they're not doing it now. For example, a popular author like Sue Grafton has a number of backlist MMPB books with a retail price of $7.99, but the ebooks are sold at $14 and up. Over at Fictionwise, BOB, etc. there are plenty of ebooks that didn't drop in price to match the MMPB (especially books by MacMillan and its subsidiaries). Say what you want about Amazon and its motives (it's all about Amazon's profit), but I think they've been one of the few forces to push the publishers to match the MMPB price with ebooks, and the agency pricing model is going to take that away.
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