Can anyone notify me why the e-books you download to the Kindle or Sony reader cost as much as the actual book?
I understand that writers and publishers need to get compensated, but other than not having a room full of books why should we be paying standard book price for a download? I understand the benefit of have thousands of books all in one device but technically I'd be buying a device for $300 and saving no money within the long run. At least a real book can be traded into local bookworm book stores for credit.
Answers:
Because they're greedy. If you run to sites like Lulu.com and see self-published download prices, they're much lower. $15 for the book, $5-ish for the download.
I don't know much about the sony reader. But as a Kindle 2 owner myself, I have to say-so that it has saved me quite seriously of money in buying books. I'm an avid reader and right now I have in the region of 20 Kindle books on the device. They are all cheaper than the actual books. I can foresee that I can even earn the cost of the Kindle device back after a year or so.
There is relatively a good article talking about the price of the Kindle here:
http://www.speedreaderxreview.com/is-kin…
Hope that help.
because the publishers and writers are greedy bastards.
everyone in the chain has to catch a piece of the pie
write, publisher, reader manufacutrer etc, etc
they are all greedy bastards just like the musicians
As the technology get more common and popular, this will probably change. It's partly supply and demand---not plenty people want to buy books in the e-format, so those who do have to wage more for them to cover the expense of providing them to the public.
As far as I know, Amazon does quite a moral job on price of books and Kindle books are cheaper than actual books. Sony, however, cannot provide content cheaper than actual books as they are not book vendor itself, and this is also the most complained by owners of the Sony Reader.
You can check the price of best sellers of Kindle books on Amazon, most of them are cheaper than the actual books:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/redirect.html?i…
And for books within public domain, Amazon provide them for free to download, which is impossible for actual books:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/redirect.html?i…
There are also more than 20,000 Kindle books which are lower than $1:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/redirect.html?i…
Yes, real book can be traded while ebooks cannot, this is the drawback. But I'm the kind of person who seldom put on the market the books I owned, I want to keep them for reference anytime. So the Kindle does gather me quite a lot of money in long possession.
Hope it helps.
My ebook, available surrounded by Kindle version from Amazon.com, is only $5.50. The other ebooks I've seen are around like price, while the paper versions are usually $14-$17. Ebooks are considerably cheaper, as far as my experience tells me.
You might like these:
Free e-books.
http://2020ok.com/
http://www.loudlit.org/ *****
http://books.google.com/
http://www.truly-free.org/
http://www.readprint.com/ *****
http://www.ebooklobby.com/
http://www.literaturecollection.com/ * * * * *
The Classic Immortals - Classic Authors
*http://webliterature.net/literature/inde… * * * *
http://www.balajisebookworld.com/page_1.…
Novels, mystery, romance, saga, self-help, history, and more.
They are legal, in most cases from the author's own website.
network research -- scroll down for the books -- web inspiration
Please honor the guidelines on these generous sites--links added every month.
http://newfreebooks.com/
Related Questions:
Is the kindle worth the money?
i don't really think so because it is over $200 to buy one but then most books you would like to buy you enjoy to pay for so wouldn't it be easier to go to a resale/thrift shop and just buying used books I think it's not only the price issue, but also the convenience it...
Should I ask for the amazon kindle?
ok my b-day is comming up and I was thinking about asking for one for x-masI'm 13 would this be a good investment for me??also I love to readmy faves are:the clique seriesthe private series and other tween booksare any of these avalible surrounded by the kindle storeB.c I read some reviews and they said that...
Answers:
Because they're greedy. If you run to sites like Lulu.com and see self-published download prices, they're much lower. $15 for the book, $5-ish for the download.
I don't know much about the sony reader. But as a Kindle 2 owner myself, I have to say-so that it has saved me quite seriously of money in buying books. I'm an avid reader and right now I have in the region of 20 Kindle books on the device. They are all cheaper than the actual books. I can foresee that I can even earn the cost of the Kindle device back after a year or so.
There is relatively a good article talking about the price of the Kindle here:
http://www.speedreaderxreview.com/is-kin…
Hope that help.
because the publishers and writers are greedy bastards.
everyone in the chain has to catch a piece of the pie
write, publisher, reader manufacutrer etc, etc
they are all greedy bastards just like the musicians
As the technology get more common and popular, this will probably change. It's partly supply and demand---not plenty people want to buy books in the e-format, so those who do have to wage more for them to cover the expense of providing them to the public.
As far as I know, Amazon does quite a moral job on price of books and Kindle books are cheaper than actual books. Sony, however, cannot provide content cheaper than actual books as they are not book vendor itself, and this is also the most complained by owners of the Sony Reader.
You can check the price of best sellers of Kindle books on Amazon, most of them are cheaper than the actual books:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/redirect.html?i…
And for books within public domain, Amazon provide them for free to download, which is impossible for actual books:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/redirect.html?i…
There are also more than 20,000 Kindle books which are lower than $1:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/redirect.html?i…
Yes, real book can be traded while ebooks cannot, this is the drawback. But I'm the kind of person who seldom put on the market the books I owned, I want to keep them for reference anytime. So the Kindle does gather me quite a lot of money in long possession.
Hope it helps.
My ebook, available surrounded by Kindle version from Amazon.com, is only $5.50. The other ebooks I've seen are around like price, while the paper versions are usually $14-$17. Ebooks are considerably cheaper, as far as my experience tells me.
You might like these:
Free e-books.
http://2020ok.com/
http://www.loudlit.org/ *****
http://books.google.com/
http://www.truly-free.org/
http://www.readprint.com/ *****
http://www.ebooklobby.com/
http://www.literaturecollection.com/ * * * * *
The Classic Immortals - Classic Authors
*http://webliterature.net/literature/inde… * * * *
http://www.balajisebookworld.com/page_1.…
Novels, mystery, romance, saga, self-help, history, and more.
They are legal, in most cases from the author's own website.
network research -- scroll down for the books -- web inspiration
Please honor the guidelines on these generous sites--links added every month.
http://newfreebooks.com/
Related Questions:
Is the kindle worth the money?
i don't really think so because it is over $200 to buy one but then most books you would like to buy you enjoy to pay for so wouldn't it be easier to go to a resale/thrift shop and just buying used books I think it's not only the price issue, but also the convenience it...
Should I ask for the amazon kindle?
ok my b-day is comming up and I was thinking about asking for one for x-masI'm 13 would this be a good investment for me??also I love to readmy faves are:the clique seriesthe private series and other tween booksare any of these avalible surrounded by the kindle storeB.c I read some reviews and they said that...