Dear Commons Community,
There is an interesting discussion in an article in today’s NY Times regarding e-book pricing. It suggests that many owners of Amazon’s Kindle and other e-readers are cost conscious and will rebel if prices for an e-book go much above the standard Amazon price of $9.99. I don’t know if this is true but in my own case, I know that the appeal of an e-reader surely relates to pricing. I love my hard copy (dog-eared, pencil (not pen) marked-up in my favorite chair reading style) but I am very close to purchasing an e-reader because of price. For instance, while writing an article recently, I came across a reference (book) that I would have loved to read a chapter for some particular point, when I checked to see its availability on Amazon and Barnes & Noble, I was shocked at the $95. price but an e-book version was available at $9.99. I would definitely have purchased the less expensive version and instead passed on the hard copy. I keep thinking about this experience and am leaning to purchasing a Kindle or one of the other e-readers this summer.
Tony
The NY Times article is available at: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/11/technology/11reader.html?th&emc=th
I don’t know why Sony doesn’t do a better job of marketing its e-reader. Downloads e-library books for free!! Easy access from NYPL and Brooklyn websites.
David,
Thanks for the post!
Tony
Bill,
Thanks for taking the time to post to my blog and sharing your experiences. Did you read Caesar’s Gallic Wars and Pliny in Latin?
Tony
Tony. I have noticed the price creep with Amazon’s Kindle books. At first they were to be $9.99 but I see that is only an occasional price now. Since with the Kindle you basically have vapor ware, e.g., you can’t give it or loan the book to someone else, I have started to refrane from buying their books. Instead, I find the classic books for free or for $.99 that I have never read. I also like the feature of having the book read to me, but not for $15.
The past couuple of weeks I have been reading books on my iPnone. I got FreeBooks for $4.95 and it gives me access to 26,000 titles for free. The screen is back-lit and I can change the font size. I have read Julis Ceasar’s “Gallic Wars” and am now reading the Letters of Pliny the Younger (books that I would never have read in paper). Right now I am waiting for the Apple Ibook and will see what they offer.