Quote:
Originally Posted by Kali Yuga
Well, you two might agree, but.... 
Price should ultimately be based on demand; it really should not have anything to do with even the price of a good in another format. "Cost" should ultimately only generate a minimum floor for the price of a good.
Or should we base the price of digital audio, or even CD's, relative to the price of vinyl records, cassettes and 8-track tapes? Or price video games on CD based on the price if it was on floppy discs? 
Not to mention there are several reductions in the consumer's cost that no one ever acknowledges. For example, that $15 ebook has no shipping costs; for that $10 paperback, you could tack on sales tax and/or the time in the store and/or $3 for shipping and handling (a profit center for retailers, by the way). Or if you really want to compare apples to apples, $8 or whatever for overnight shipping, which still isn't as fast as digital distribution.
I see no particular reason to link an ebook's price to its paper equivalent. It's only even mentioned because we are used to paying X for paper books, and hold the illusion that you are ultimately paying for paper rather than the intellectual property and the financial resources invested in the book. |
It really does not make any difference how the author/publisher/retailer tries to justify their pricing 'model', Amazon called it right
<< QUOTE >>We want you to know that ultimately, however, we will have to capitulate and accept Macmillan's terms because Macmillan has a monopoly over their own titles, << QUOTE >>
They will charge you as much as they can get away with, for as long as they can get away with it — and you will all grumble about it and pay up.
They know it and you know it. You can't reason with a monopolist!