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Thanks, Apple. Ipad helps jack price of e-books

post #1 of 40
2/1/10 at 9:59pm
Thread Starter 
Well, Amazon caved in and has agreed to raise the price of ebooks. Speculation is that competition from Apple has helped RAISE their prices.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/articl...BD00503375.DTL
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post #2 of 40
2/1/10 at 10:49pm
I would keep the emphasis on 'speculation' for now. Jobs said that the iBooks app will sell at the same price as Amazon book and the problem was precipitated by MacMillian. Amazon already sell a lot at loss and evidently, publishers do not like the deal. It was bound to happen eventually.

I don't like it. Users already don't own the books they buy. They license them, meaning it works on a specific hardware in a specific way - complete rubbish. With prices that close to paperback, there is next to no benefit for buying an eBook. The whole thing is rubbish.
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post #3 of 40
2/1/10 at 10:49pm
That's fine, I'll just continue not to buy any of them
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post #4 of 40
2/1/10 at 11:52pm
Don't buy the Amazon propaganda. They want to monopolize the market and have publishers subsidize the Kindle. Macmillan wants to have the flexibility to price books at $15 when they come out, then lower them all the way down to $6, much as they do with hardbacks and paperbacks today.

Here is an author's take on the dispute:
Amazon, Macmillan: an outsider's guide to the fight - Charlie's Diary

I agree that pricing is way out of whack for DRM crippled books, which are only worth about 20% of the price of a hardback because of the restrictions and inability to resell them after reading them.

In any case, Amazon's delisting (censorship) of Macmillan paper books is utterly unjustifiable and unacceptable.
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post #5 of 40
2/1/10 at 11:53pm
Apple will make an enemy of any Kindle owners at this rate. Greedy buggers, Apple & Macmillan.
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post #6 of 40
2/2/10 at 12:08am
Kindle users made their bed when they chose a unitasker device that can only read e-books sold by Amazon. At least the iPad can read e-books in the standard ePub format. The Apple ones will probably be laced with DRM and not usable on other devices, but you can always get them from other places like Fictionwise, much as you can get music for an iPod from Amazon's MP3 store or ripping your own CDs. You can also read Kindle books on the iPad using Amazon's app, just as you can on the iPhone.
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post #7 of 40
2/2/10 at 12:21am
For the price that most e-books go for, I'm much happier just purchasing a physical copy of a book. I get the satisfaction of having the physical media in my hands as well.

That said, I did get my hands on Sony E-Reader a bit back and I love it, but I only use it to read the free e-books and PDFs I am able to accumulate online.
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post #8 of 40
2/2/10 at 12:42am
Eyestrain. Plain and simple.. no matter what kind of back-lit LCD technology you use, it WILL cause eyestrain. E-Ink wasn't just invented for a lark.

I enjoy reading Epub books on my wife's kindle. Stanza allows me to convert easily. PDF's are native now also.

Bottom line is this.. Apple says we want to charge $15 dollars, and publishers jump at it. Amazon, feels that's an unfair price (I agree) and is strongarmed by the publisher to raise prices. Didn't Macmillan sign some kind of pricing agreement when they signed up for kindle?

I think it's within Amazons rights to sell whatever they like, and at what price they like.. if they're making a loss on it it's them, not the publisher that loses out.

Hopefully common sense will out here and we'll find that E-books will go the way of the Audio file, with DRM being phased out and rather quickly. As a single task device the Kindle is excellent, the "free" 3G is probably what's keeping the DRM there. Can't offer 3G without some kind of subsidy (the sale of Kindle books). I'd be happy to pay an extra $1 for wireless delivery and have no DRM on the files.

Either way, it's the consumer who gets screwed again.. why we put up with this greed is beyond me.
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post #9 of 40
2/2/10 at 1:19am
Quote:
Originally Posted by shigzeo View Post
Jobs said that the iBooks app will sell at the same price as Amazon
And it was interesting that he said this before the whole thing with Macmillan broke but after it was announced Apple would be selling new books at 12.99 - 15.99. I'm guessing we can expect other publishers to follow suit and also demand the same terms for Barnes & Noble and other eBook stores. After that happens it wouldn't surprise me if Apple drops the price of iBooks but the new terms other retailers were forced into with the publishers will prevent them from doing the same.

Quote:
Originally Posted by majid View Post
Kindle users made their bed when they chose a unitasker device that can only read e-books sold by Amazon.
That's funny. I can also buy books from Baen and Horror Mall and other places for my Kindle. The Kindle can also accept other formats such as .mobi and PDF's. Why do people always erroneously believe that you can only read books sold by Amazon on the Kindle?
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post #10 of 40
2/2/10 at 2:11am
Quote:
Originally Posted by craiglester View Post
Eyestrain. Plain and simple.. no matter what kind of back-lit LCD technology you use, it WILL cause eyestrain. E-Ink wasn't just invented for a lark.
Agreed. The iPad hasn't replaced my desire for an e-reader, although I still haven't really justified something like a Kindle due to the price.

The Kindle and other e-readers are unitaskers, but they have a place in the market until OLED based tablets become cheaper and more ubiquitous.
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post #11 of 40
2/2/10 at 2:23am
Wait, but people don't really read anymore according to Steve Jobs. Oh wait, that was the old "truth".
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post #12 of 40
2/2/10 at 5:25am
Give me PDFs and I'll think about an eReader. I'd much rather get a Sony one though, or once Google inevitably releases one or if they decide to partner with someone.
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post #13 of 40
2/2/10 at 6:18am
That's about the same price as an ordinary book purchased for Book Depository. At this point in time, it's really not worth it for anyone to purchase a kindle, iPad or anything else. I don't see the point in paying $300-$500 for one of these units and paying another $13-$15 for every book I download while for the same price, I can get a hard copy. Oh dear, it's the iPod all over again, except worse.
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post #14 of 40
2/2/10 at 10:11am
Who 'buys' music, movies, ebooks etc here? ...raise your hands!

now...laugh at yourself.


as much as i may offend some good boys....i think this business model fails
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post #15 of 40
2/2/10 at 10:26am
At least there are thousand of free books available from Gnutenberg project - I just finished 'Secret of the Island' by Jules Verne and have now moved onto Jane Austen's 'Emma'. But, I buy books in Japan for less than 8$ - full editions in paperback. I can lend them, borrow them, or burn them.

The price of eBooks for any platform is stupid. Even sale prices of 6$ is asking way too much for something that you don't even 'own'. Music, at least you buy to keep. But DRM laden books for the price of a paperback or more is ridiculous.
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