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Irony: Book About Recording Industry's Mishandling Of Digital Priced Higher As Ebook Than Physical Book
from the that's-saying-something dept
A few weeks back, we noted that book publishers apparently simply did not learn from the mistakes of the recording industry -- specifically pointing to DRM and (more importantly) the fact that they've started pricing ebooks higher than physical books. Now, in a moment of supreme irony, Copycense (who has been highlighting various ebooks priced over corresponding physical books) is noting that Steve Knopper's excellent book Appetite for Self-Destruction (subtitled "The Spectacular Crash of the Record Industry in the Digital Age") is one of those books. Indeed, Amazon shows the ebook priced at $17.99, while the paperback is $11.53 from Amazon (and available new from others at $7.50 or used at $4.42).
If you go to the ebook page itself, Amazon clearly states, "This price was set by the publisher" (a clear response to complaints about the rapidly rising price of ebooks lately). It kinda makes you wonder if the decision makers at Simon and Schuster even read the book they're pricing? They might want to crack open a used copy of the paperback (it's cheaper) to learn why not understanding digital, and therefore thinking you can price digital things super high, is not the smartest move...
If you go to the ebook page itself, Amazon clearly states, "This price was set by the publisher" (a clear response to complaints about the rapidly rising price of ebooks lately). It kinda makes you wonder if the decision makers at Simon and Schuster even read the book they're pricing? They might want to crack open a used copy of the paperback (it's cheaper) to learn why not understanding digital, and therefore thinking you can price digital things super high, is not the smartest move...
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Reader Comments (rss)
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What planet do you come from?
/Sarcasm Goddammit!
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Grammar nazi
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Re: Grammar nazi
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You see, in other, inferior, OS's, discarded bits are put into a trash can, awaiting disposal. When time comes, the "trash" is burned in large incinerators. This is, obviously, a colossal waste of resources, not to mention, highly pollutant.
Microsoft solves these environmental issues by making sure that every bit that is discarded into the recycle bin is recycled, giving it a new life as a piece of e-paper (for e-books or word documents, for example) or as materials for that game you are enjoying (yes, that house your tank just demolished was made of recycled e-bricks, courtesy of Microsoft).
Microsoft is also one of the only major players in the web browser field that does not support animal cruelty, unlike other browsers that are known to exploit animals such as lynxes, fire foxes or ice weasels.
Microsoft: making your e-world a e-better e-place to e-live!
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http://librivox.org/
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Stupidity reigns...
Previously, I noticed that when the ebook was released at the same time as the hardback, it was generally priced at what the paperback would be. I though this was acceptable. I'd even be willing to pony up a little extra for the convenience of not having to wait.
Now, the prices of the ebooks are getting close to that of the hardback.
There is a simple formula that could be applied here, but it will never happen. Corporate bean counters do not seem able to, or willing to, differentiate between physical and digital media. Not going to rehash the production cost issues as they are all well known to us.
I think that the cost of the ebook should be a fixed precentage of the least expensive print copy. Let's assume the difference between hard back and paper back. Just for the sake of this example, let's say that Publisher A has a $30 hard back price and that same book, when goes to paper back is $10. That means if we assume an ebook distribution at the paper back price, then we apply that same 66.6% difference to the ebook 6 - 12 months later when the paper back is published. So instead of an ebook at the same or greater price than the paper back, we get an ebook at 1/3 the cost ($3.33).
Seems simple to me, but I am not a corporate bean counter with my head up the CEOs ass and my hand in my customers' pockets.
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/s
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lower price now
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I dont get it...
And besides, I can download a pirated e-book in 5 minutes, which means I am much more likely to pirate an e-book than to pirate a movie.
See what you did publishers? YOU created the pirates.
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Hardback is cheaper...?
So, a copy that costs nothing to manufacture and distribute, is sold for over three times the cost of a copy that cost money to manufacture, and has to be physically shipped.
Yeah, that makes sense.
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With publishers, it's all price NEGOTIATION at this point.
Time and time again however, it has been seen in other markets that consumers do make a judgement of fairness. Generally, consumers do expect that producers have a right to make a profit, but they expect that profit to have some reasonable relationship to the expense of production. For the publishers, negotiation consists of throwing something up there and seeing what flies with the public. All of the moaning about not being able to make a sustainable profit is just misdirection and posturing to support their attempt to move prices higher.
All of the above seems fair to me, but what I really resent is when publishers, and the media in general, attempt to use governments to change laws allowing then to gain an unfair advantage in this pricing tug-of-war.
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That is the thinking behind this madness.
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Region 1
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Re: Region 1
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but not helpful when i want to read something that is not in the public domain as of yet.
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ebooks are not simply worth more because they are high tech, they are worth UNIMAGINABLY more becase they are high tech. everyone knows the only tech stuff worth buying is the retartedly high priced stuff.
people are not slow to adopt because its not priced correctly.
people are slow to adopt because jobs has not called people who have not yet adopted it stupid sheeple. once we get jobs on board everyone will be forced to get into ebooks or be socially ostracised, shunned and have rotten apples thrown at them.
finally, you make one huge assumption that there is any thinking behind this at all.
more likely they have a giant spinning dartbard, they throw a dart and whatever it says to do, thats what they do.
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Re: Region 1
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Re: Hardback is cheaper...?
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Digital..
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Didn't see this coming
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Except...
You can only loan your book 5 time total. And for a maximum of 14 days per loan. And while it's loaned, you cannot read it nor can you loan it to multiple people simultaneously. (If you say it's normal because normal books also work this way, you deserve a slight slap in the face)
http://news.slashdot.org/story/10/11/06/2243234/Analyzing-Amazons-E-Book-Loan-Agreement?fro m=rss
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