An ebook question...

This may be completely unrelated but I was recently in a meeting to update a textbook for a class I teach and we were told of studies in Florida colleges where they tried to go completely e-book showed that the students only saved an average of $1 per book.  As such Florida decided against going e-book only for its state universities.  The publishers reps also mentioned that these studies also led the various publishers to raise e-book prices to paper levels.  They also mentioned that the amount of customization that can occur with textbooks nowadays and the concomitant online supplements means they are incurring just as much cost to maintain that infrastructure as they do printing on paper.  Therefore prices weren't as low as one would expect.

 

As a matter of fact one of the reps took a suggestion of mine and immediately fired off an email during the presentation to begin the process of hiring a set of coders that could implement what I saw as lacking in their online components.

 

I think e-books were originally priced low to entice early adopters to buy the requisite hardware but now that such is becoming ubiquitous the prices have inched up to either extract additional profit or, most likely, to shore up the losses from print divisions during the transition to all digital over the next few years.

Edited by TzuDohNihm - 5/13/12 at 5:52pm

Another reason why prices are so high is because the publishers have colluded to make it so. It is classic Antitrust, basically they are forcing Amazon and other online retailers to set the prices for their e-books at or above the price of their print ones. If these retailers don't comply they'll cancel all of their contracts with them for both e-book and print books.

The United States Department of Justice is currently prosecuting the "Big SIx" publishers for Antitrust and the case is still in litigation.

Here is an article about it and the term of settlement the publishers must agree to if they want to avoid litigation:

http://www.wired.com/epicenter/2012/04/doj-terms-settlement-ebook/

Yeah, ebooks are pretty much about the convenience.  Nice to be able to carry the collected works of Tolkien around in the palm of your hand though.

It obviously helps that I live in an area with access to several major library systems, but I get a ton of my e-book reading from the library.

Interesting read about the price-fixing scandal. 

 

http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2012/apr/13/apple-ebook-price-fixing-terrifying

I see a lot of ebooks at a dollar or two lower than the physical copy.  And that's the price being set by a Barnes and Noble or Amazon, nowhere near the publisher's list price.

 

You can find a lot of good deals if you're patient and thorough.  Books marked down to 99 cents, B&N's Free Friday books, etc.

I don't know why anyone would be surprised by this.  It's the same with music.  You save a little bit buying the album off itunes or Amazon digital, but only a couple of bucks.  People gotta get paid.  Unfortunately, the poeple that should get paid the most (author/musician) probably get paid the least when it's all said and done.

Yes, the best part about ebooks would have to be the convenience factor. The real savings come if you love to read classics or books without copyright protection, you can get them for free or nearly free. 

 

Also, it really depends on what kind of books you like to read. I belong to sites which promote fantasy, science fiction, chick lit, and romance, so I'm not paying a whole lot for those books. If you want best sellers by authors who are demanding high pay checks, then you can expect to pay full price. 

 

I can't go back to reading physical books, but then I still read from a dedicated ereader. 

It seems I was wrong on my previous post concerning digital music.  I was just on Amazon looking up the new Tenacious D album, and the digital versions of both the new one and the first one are more expensive than the CD. 

 

As far as e-readers go, I got one for Christmas a couple of years back and loved it. Over time the novelty has kind of wore off and I'm back to just checking out books from the library.  An e-reader can be convenient, but I'm never in a situation where it's actually that much more convenient for me.  I'm usually not reading more than one book at a time.  What I am reading is never so heavy that when I put it in a bag it's weighing me down.  The one time having one is convenient is when I'm reading in bed and my girlfriend wants me to turn the light out.  My e-reader is like a watered down Android tablet with a processor made for e-readers (ie not strong enough to play Angry Birds), so it's a bright screen, not like an old Kindle with e-ink.  Good for reading in dark places. But all-in-all, free books from the library is the way to go for me.

I love my ereader for a variety of reasons.

 

First, I am an English teacher, so I am reading multiple novels at a time with different classes. I can do the reading very quickly using my ereader.

 

Second, I have an old style, Non-tablet Sony Ereader and I love it. The battery goes for a month or more between charges. I would be angry to read on a tablet and the battery is dead.

 

Third, I am the type that reads different novels for different moods. I can change novels based on my mood and never lose track of where I am at.

 

Fourth, I download Ebooks from my state library system. It is easy, works well, and is in reality the only time I use my library system.

 

Finally, I use Instantpaper.com to grab articles I don't have time to read from online newsites, magazines, etc. It saves them to an online server and I can export it as a .epub or .pdf file for reading at my leisure. It is super handy for things I see during the day, but don't have time to read immediately. If I bookmark it, I will never go back and read it. I just save them, download my paper on the weekend, and read when I have time.