Did I make a mistake buying this? - Page 3

coase · 05-06-2009, 06:10 PM

I think we are in the early stages of this. Publishers are dearly trying to hang onto the old revenue model of book publication and see ebooks as primarily a threat. Moreover, the technology is not yet fully developed.

Once we get Readers that are no more than $200, have comparable contrast to good paper, fast and intuitive in page turning, book searching, easy to rescale fonts, etc. then the market will grow enough that someone will figure out it's better to grab the new market than worry about cannibalizing the old one. Already Amazon has gotten far with their $9.99 sales and I figure at some point (maybe B&N) will undercut them.

Perhaps some enterprising publisher will bring together collections of slow selling mystery or sf titles and bundle together a half dozen for $20. I don't know why someone doesn't put together the lesser known Edgar, Hugo or Nebula winners and sell them REALLY cheaply. But that day will come.

I'm reminded of the problem of CD encyclopedias. Britannica killed itself by not wanting to drop the price of the CD version below $995! because it threatened their door-to-door sales force. Encarta trumped them by selling $99 versions. Now Encarta is being killed by Google and Wikipedia.

Sony was notorious for underdeveloping the SACD music format. It could have been a true improvement in music quality, but they were more focused on deterring piracy and preserving revenue than selling the new system. Result: SACD is essentially dead or will live on as a niche product.

But as early adopters we have to live with what we can get and realize that when the dust settles that the Reader may become an orphan product.

But even if you told me that none of the new titles after say, 2011 will be issued in formats I can read on the Sony, the purchase would still be worth it for me.

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05-06-2009, 06:10 PM	#31
coase Enthusiast Posts: 41 Karma: 500 Join Date: Apr 2009 Device: Nook Color	I think we are in the early stages of this. Publishers are dearly trying to hang onto the old revenue model of book publication and see ebooks as primarily a threat. Moreover, the technology is not yet fully developed. Once we get Readers that are no more than $200, have comparable contrast to good paper, fast and intuitive in page turning, book searching, easy to rescale fonts, etc. then the market will grow enough that someone will figure out it's better to grab the new market than worry about cannibalizing the old one. Already Amazon has gotten far with their $9.99 sales and I figure at some point (maybe B&N) will undercut them. Perhaps some enterprising publisher will bring together collections of slow selling mystery or sf titles and bundle together a half dozen for $20. I don't know why someone doesn't put together the lesser known Edgar, Hugo or Nebula winners and sell them REALLY cheaply. But that day will come. I'm reminded of the problem of CD encyclopedias. Britannica killed itself by not wanting to drop the price of the CD version below $995! because it threatened their door-to-door sales force. Encarta trumped them by selling $99 versions. Now Encarta is being killed by Google and Wikipedia. Sony was notorious for underdeveloping the SACD music format. It could have been a true improvement in music quality, but they were more focused on deterring piracy and preserving revenue than selling the new system. Result: SACD is essentially dead or will live on as a niche product. But as early adopters we have to live with what we can get and realize that when the dust settles that the Reader may become an orphan product. But even if you told me that none of the new titles after say, 2011 will be issued in formats I can read on the Sony, the purchase would still be worth it for me.