The 2010s were supposed to bring the ebook revolution. It never quite came.

[Pulpmeister]

I think the paperbookless world is a bit like the paperless office.... much touted but unrealised after all this time. Less paper perhaps, but not paperless.

[binaryhermit]

Goodereader bloviating about this again, sort of
https://goodereader.com/blog/e-book-...ook-revolution

[leebase]

Seems a reasonable article to me. I was one of those who thought ebooks would put paper books in the dustbin of history.

I do think the article misses something in its analysis. Young people bought paperback books in my day (I’m 55). We couldn’t afford new release hardback books. This. Option that some tragedy has happened because the brand new book pricing window hasn’t collapsed to paperback book prices.

Today’s $14.99 new book time window price is still $10 cheaper than new books used to be sold for. If that’s too rich for your blood....then, like me, you were never in the market for just released books. You waited for the paperbacks.

So I’m not so sure that cheaper paperback book prices are why new time window ebooks aren’t selling as much as expected. I’d love to have the sales data to really explore this.

[binaryhermit]

But those $14.99 ebooks pretty much stay $14.99 forever outside of infrequent sale prices.
I mean, "The Everything Store" came out in 2013 and is still $12.99.

But yeah, I think a huge reason the ebook revolution "died" was agency pricing, or more specifically, agency pricing being used to prop up dead tree books at the expense of ebooks.
But without agency pricing ereaders might still be $300+ for the base model, so...

[pwalker8]

Originally Posted by binaryhermit

But those $14.99 ebooks pretty much stay $14.99 forever outside of infrequent sale prices.
I mean, "The Everything Store" came out in 2013 and is still $12.99.

But yeah, I think a huge reason the ebook revolution "died" was agency pricing, or more specifically, agency pricing being used to prop up dead tree books at the expense of ebooks.
But without agency pricing ereaders might still be $300+ for the base model, so...

Oddly enough, the paperback price and the kindle price for The Everything Store is exactly the same $12.99. Paperback books don't have agency pricing. If the books were priced wrong, one would expect the paperback price to fall below the Kindle price, yet it doesn't. Of course, one can look at other paperback books. The first book of David Weber's Safehold series is $8.99 in paper and $8.99 on the Kindle. Looking at all the books in the series, there is a fair amount of fluctuation in both the paperback prices and kindle prices.

I have no idea what the logic behind kindle prices propping up paperback prices is. For the most part, I don't think people look at the kindle price and paperback price and say "Gee, if only the kindle price were lower, I would by the digital book. Instead, since they are the same price, I'll buy the paperback". I suspect that for most people who do read digital books, it the prices are equal, they prefer the digital copy.

[Apache]

Originally Posted by pwalker8

I straddle. I've been buying exclusively ebooks and used my iPad as an ebook reader the last three times I got jury duty (Fulton County doesn't care what sort of electronics you bring while waiting to be called. You don't read anything once you hit the actual court room).

You can not have any electronics what so ever (yes this includes phones). The Sherriff Deputies will not allow them through the metal detector on the first floor if you are heading up to the courtrooms. If you do not bring a paper book you will just have to sit, even before being called.
Apache

[Apache]

Originally Posted by leebase

Seems a reasonable article to me. I was one of those who thought ebooks would put paper books in the dustbin of history.

I realized that eBooks would probably no replace paper when people started buying records again. I was glad to see records go. They warped, scratched easily when other people handled them and you had to flip them to play the other side. You also had to play them in the order they were in on the album. Not to mention most needles did not track in the exact center of the groove, unless you had a linear tracking turntable. I did. CD's were great, compared to albums, and digital storage on just about anything is even better. (This is my opinion and does not reflect what others think)
Apache

[pwalker8]

Originally Posted by Apache

I realized that eBooks would probably no replace paper when people started buying records again. I was glad to see records go. They warped, scratched easily when other people handled them and you had to flip them to play the other side. You also had to play them in the order they were in on the album. Not to mention most needles did not track in the exact center of the groove, unless you had a linear tracking turntable. I did. CD's were great, compared to albums, and digital storage on just about anything is even better. (This is my opinion and does not reflect what others think)
Apache

My niece asked for a turntable and several special records for Christmas a couple of years ago. Why? Because it was the in thing and her friends (high school age) had one. Sigh.

My sister (my other sister) has a turntable and a bunch of her old records that are now over 40 years old. I guess it's just a nostalgia thing, though you can't get cd's or digital copies of some of the albums by some of the old bands, especially the regional bands.

[pwalker8]

Originally Posted by Apache

You can not have any electronics what so ever (yes this includes phones). The Sherriff Deputies will not allow them through the metal detector on the first floor if you are heading up to the courtrooms. If you do not bring a paper book you will just have to sit, even before being called.
Apache

Geeze, talk about cruel and unusual punishment. The last time I went to jury duty, I had an iPad, an iPhone(with a lot of music downloaded), a battery charger, a laptop and noise canceling headphones. Got to have something to do while waiting for hours and hours.

[Paperbackstash]

I never liked the dvd/cd format because I always found it problematic. This was one reason I transferred over so easily to mp3 and digital with music. However, with books I saw e-books as alternate format, but books still worked well for me at the same time, so I was hoping, and didn't think they would be replaced.

[ZodWallop]

Originally Posted by binaryhermit

But those $14.99 ebooks pretty much stay $14.99 forever outside of infrequent sale prices.

I bought The Outsider when it was released for $14.99. Now it's 11.99. I believe it was $9.99 for a while.

I think the reason you aren't seeing the big price drops you seem to be expecting is because:

1. New release ebooks aren't priced as highly as the hardback in the first place
2. Mass market paperbacks are being replaced by more expensive trade paperbacks and once out of new release phase, the publishers tend to price ebooks similarly to the paper copy.

(In the case of my example, I also suspect the publisher jacked up the price because of the HBO series. As I mentioned, it had been $9.99.)

[ZodWallop]

Originally Posted by shanghaichica

I’ve ditched my 20+ year CD collection and stereo the day I got the HomePod in 2018. Most of my DVDs and Blu-rays have gone. I still own a Blu-ray play but it sits collection dust...

I still get DVDs from Netflix

I've ditched cable and embraced streaming and everything else. But there's too much I like that is just easier to get on DVD.

[Richwood]

As an enthusiast of some of the older science fiction writers I buy digital when I can but many of the SF books from the 1930s to 1980s have never been converted to digital format that I have been able to find. The historical fiction novels and many SF stories of L Sprague DeCamp are an example or many of the works of Randall Garrett.

[DNSB]

Originally Posted by Richwood

As an enthusiast of some of the older science fiction writers I buy digital when I can but many of the SF books from the 1930s to 1980s have never been converted to digital format that I have been able to find. The historical fiction novels and many SF stories of L Sprague DeCamp are an example or many of the works of Randall Garrett.

Or even worse from some points of view, they became available for a short while as ebooks and then disappeared due to disputes between the author/heirs and the publisher.

[barryem]

I never thought ebooks would kill off paper books. I did think, and still do, that as time goes by more people will read ebooks. Too many people love the feel and the smell of paper books for them to simply go away.

Also I think the publishers have fought back against ebooks pretty successfully. The problem with ebooks, for them, is that they're cheaper to produce and it's better to get a markup on a $15 sale than on a $10 sale. They've resisted that, with much success and now they're even resisting putting ebooks in libraries.

I suspect that as the years go by the percentage of readers who read ebooks will increase. I also suspect that there'll be paper book lovers around for a long time.

Barry