You thought agency pricing was bad, how about 95$ for a single ebook?

[JGB]

http://www.directebooks.com/ebook_de...prov=undefined


"This volume completes the translation of Ibn Battuta's narrative. Volume III ended with Ibn Battuta's appointment by the Sultan of Delhi to accompany an embassy to China. In Volume IV he describes his journey to the coast where he embarked near Cambay and sailed to Calicut.The final volume comprises the index to the whole work."

3 volumes at 70-100$ each? The best part, they only have I, IV and V.


I needed them for an assignment, guess I'll order a nice complete set of the dead tree VolI-IV next day air to my house from another continent instead so I can save some money.

[xg4bx]

ouch.

[Pinecone]

For specialized books, that is not too bad of a price.

I have seen books over $200. But only appeal to a VERY small audience.

[Lirillo]

Academic books - even the e-versions - tend to be very high. I wanted to get scientific books for a project, but had to give up when they asked over $300 per book. I'm going to wait for the university library to get them

[Belfaborac]

The abridged 1829 translation by Rev. Samuel Lee (243 pages) can be found on Google Books, in case that'll do you.

[JGB]

Originally Posted by Pinecone

For specialized books, that is not too bad of a price.

I have seen books over $200. But only appeal to a VERY small audience.

Sure, but normally paper copies are up there too. I could get a complete set for a little bit more than the cost of 1/4 ebooks. And the ebook set wasn't complete. They had the last book(index of the set) but a big gap in the middle.

[Pinecone]

New or used?

Used pbooks skew the market.

[RainingLemur]

I thought there was an ebook on Amazon that was several thousand dollars. Something about nuclear physics, or something.

[murraypaul]

Originally Posted by Pinecone

Used pbooks skew the market.

I think that depends on your point of view.
I'd rather say that the lack of any used market skews the prices for eBooks.
A market allows for prices to be determined by the balance of buyers and sellers. For eBooks, there is only one seller, the publisher.

[Angst]

As long as you don't need this book for a course, at $7,478.40 , consider yourself lucky.

[ScalyFreak]

Originally Posted by Lirillo

Academic books - even the e-versions - tend to be very high. I wanted to get scientific books for a project, but had to give up when they asked over $300 per book. I'm going to wait for the university library to get them

And then do old-fashioned pbook-pirating by sticking it in a copy machine? Even at uni library pay-by-page rates, that's bound to be a lot cheaper.

(Disclaimer: My question should not be taken as encouragement or endorsement of copying a textbook in this illegal manner. It's an observation of student behavior I saw all the time while studying in my own uni library.)

[dickon25]

As long as you don't need this book for a course, at $7,478.40 , consider yourself lucky.

...and the 'reviews' are brilliant

[Lirillo]

Originally Posted by Angst

As long as you don't need this book for a course, at $7,478.40 , consider yourself lucky.

Good grief, I'd need to write an entirely separate grant to afford that book.

[Gorgonseyes]

I understand the concept of supply and demand but they should understand that in todays world, people need a little more encouragement to fork out cash for books... Even if they are needed for college... Most people buy used to save on the crazy costs...

Even regular ebooks shouldn't be priced more than 2.50USD internationally (no matter who the author is) Amazon etc wont go bankrupt or even lose money if they lowered their fees just a tad!

[Gorgonseyes]

Originally Posted by Angst

As long as you don't need this book for a course, at $7,478.40 , consider yourself lucky.

Just think of it as an investment.... With it you can learn to create your own energy!