iPad drives Kindle prices higher, readers revolt

[petermillard]

Originally Posted by ChrisC333

For instance, as manufacturing costs come down it might even be possible to make a more or less "disposable" reading device. Such an item might have something like a preloaded set of "The Complete Works of..." a copyrighted author, or all the volumes in a popular series, or whatever bundling could be marketed at a price which could include the cost of a simple device with no wifi, no USB, no ability at instal more material...

Throw in fixed fonts and sizes, a reflective display with great contrast in good light - and you've pretty much described a paperback, no?

Cheers, Pete

[Jyster]

Changes HB by Jim Butcher on Amazon costs $9.99, why would I buy an ebook (if it was available) at a higher price, or even the same price when I could get my HB signed by Jim and sell it on ebay or even trade it to a used book store for credit or money.

There is no inherent value to an ebook besides what the buyer places in it. Once it is payed for it has no true monetary value.

[ChrisC333]

Originally Posted by petermillard

Throw in fixed fonts and sizes, a reflective display with great contrast in good light - and you've pretty much described a paperback, no?

Cheers, Pete

But don't forget that old saying - "Size does matter".


The complete works of Agatha Christie, for instance, might be a little tricky to slip in a handbag in one go. I can visualise a row of cheap 'one shot' compendium readers taking up a fraction of the space in a bookshelf, or even stacked in something like a CD rack. Despite having bookcases in every room, including the laundry, we ran out of shelf space years ago.

Cheers,

Chris

[mjhudston]

I have a view that due to the reduced shipping and storage costs, I should not be paying any more for my e-book than I should for the hardback or paper back.

Smashwords have proved that it does not take masses of people to convert these books, as long as the author has written it in MS Word in the first place (And MS Word has been round since the late 80's)

so I cannot see any justification as to why an Ebook is higher priced than a Dead Wood Book (And its far more environmentally friendly)

as for individual book prices, its all ready been said that some specialist books can cost a lot. In fact ive just paid $75 for a specialist ebook, and that happens to be $25 less than the paper back version (Which I all ready own a very dog eared copy)

[darylbrayman]

Originally Posted by Over

iPad drives Kindle prices higher, readers revolt

To get an idea about some specific prices, I looked at the Kindle price and availability as of this writing for each of the five top hardcover fiction and nonfiction books on the April 18 print copy of the The New York Times best-seller list. Neither the top fiction book ("Changes" by Jim Butcher) nor the top non-fiction book ("The Big Short" by Michael Lewis" -- see recent post on Read Street) is available on the Kindle at this time for U. S. customers.

I bought Jim Butcher's Changes at the Sony store on April 7th for $9.99.

Regards, Daryl