E-books from Sony Connect vs. Amazon

[CommanderROR]

Subscription kills competition in a way. Look at cellphone carriers...

Without those 2 year contracts the prices would have to go downwards a lot faster. But if you know you have your customers secured fo 2 years, why bother? nobody can simply leave and chosse the new, cheaper carrier anyway because they'd still have to pay their subscription fee for the full two years...
Am i the only person here who doesn't like the idea?

[rlauzon]

Originally Posted by CommanderROR

Am i the only person here who doesn't like the idea?

I don't like it.

From what I've seen, if there's plenty I want to buy, then the subscription plan works. But once I've got everything that I want, unless new content comes out fast, I won't get my money's worth.

[jerrywojo]

Originally Posted by Alexander

Edit: Find some more comparisons further down this thread.

Details are sketchy at this point, but "librie guy" from the Yahoo! Librie list managed to take a peak at the forthcoming Sony Connect Store (host currently unavailable), and it appears - well, we didn't expect anything else - that Sony's proprietary e-books will cost you extra.

Example: Alan Dean Foster's The Light Years Beneath My Feet

• Retail hardcover: $23.95
• Amazon hardcover: $16.16
• Amazon Mobipocket e-book: $17.95
• Amazon Adobe Reader e-book: $11.67
• Amazon Microsoft e-book: $11.67
• Sony Connect e-book: $16.16 (includes a 10% "CONNECT discount")

Bottom line, Sony Connect charges for the e-book the same price as Amazon charges for the hardcover paper book. Worse, you can get the same e-book in Adobe Reader or Microsoft format for almost 40 percent less if purchased through Amazon.

With all the talk about Sony Connect becoming the future iTunes store for e-books, we can tell with absolute certainty that given this horrendous pricing model, they are going to fail.

I agree fully.

Worth noting....
Ereader.com - $14.54 Newsletter price
Fictionwise - $15.26 Club price

So do these fall somewhere north of mid-priced? Would I spend 15+ on a e-book? No. Ten... yes.

I think $9.99 is the sweet spot, with discounted and or back title books a little less.

Since the new e-book readers like the Irex reader and the sony reader both suport adobe pdf. will they be able to read the e-books sold on amazon.com? If thats the case, won't they have to price competitaly with amazon?

[CommanderROR]

I think pricing should be around 10 for Hardcover (new), 5 for "paperback" and less for the "oldies".

This will happen...if:
- ebooks start appearing in large numbers
- People start using ereading devices instead of paper-books
- People start downloading ebooks illiegally "big-time"
- Authors and Publishers realize this

[Snappy!]

hehe ... so are they having a hardcover and paperback price for ebooks? ... and the hardcover price includes two pieces of cardboard to be shipped to user?

[rlauzon]

Originally Posted by Snappy!

hehe ... so are they having a hardcover and paperback price for ebooks? ... and the hardcover price includes two pieces of cardboard to be shipped to user?

This is what I find so strangely humorous about the pricing of eBooks. Publishers still price them as though it costs them money to create them and as though they are scarce (i.e. limited print run) when eBooks are, by definition, neither.

This is why I believe that the publishers are seeking to scuttle eBooks before they can take off and that it will be the authors who don't get published that will create the eBook market.

The "killer book" won't be by any "big name" author alive today. It will either be because of a resurgence in a desire to read the big name authors who are dead (i.e. the ones that are out of copyright) or by contemporary unknown authors who can't get published but write good stuff.

[Liviu_5]

Hi,

The difference is related to timing:

new books available only in hc/tp - acceptable price 10$ (no drm, multiformat, crossplatfrom of course)

older books available as pb (or new pb's) or as cheap used books - up to 6$

To this I would add
Earcs as Baen does (e- advanced reader's copies available at least 4-5 months prepub) - acceptable price 15$ with automatic access to the final ebook version.

Liviu

Originally Posted by Snappy!

hehe ... so are they having a hardcover and paperback price for ebooks? ... and the hardcover price includes two pieces of cardboard to be shipped to user?