

Amazon vs. Apple: What Should E-Book Prices Be? - dpapathanasiou
http://business.theatlantic.com/2010/02/amazon_vs_publishers_and_apple_what_should_e-book_prices_look_like.php

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michael_dorfman
This is the best analysis I've seen yet.

There's a lot of open questions (about the price elasticity of e-books, for
example), which will undoubtedly get sorted out over time--but it's important
first to lay out how the interests of the different players don't always
align, and the Apple vs Amazon distinction is a good point to keep in mind.

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rw140
I was interested in the assertion that most books aren't fashion items, so it
doesn't make sense for the price to go down over time. I'd have thought that
this effect would still be there, even if it's less pronounced than on
blockbusters - publicity will be timed to coincide with the launch, and I'd
imagine most people waiting for the next instalment will want it sooner rather
than later.

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heresyforme
I really don't care how much it costs THEM. I care how much it costs ME.

I've been reading books from the Gutenburg Project on my PDA for a few years.
Someone recently recommended a book to me that was released about 10 years
ago. I go to buy it in electronic format and it's $24.99. I pass. I end up
borrowing it from someone I know instead.

For me, I must provide the storage medium, electricity, and data connection.
On top of that I must pay 10.00 - 30.00 for a small file that possibly
contains some kind of DRM that would leave me unable to transfer the file to
another device. What did I buy?

However, what if I was able to buy 50 ebooks for $25. Well, I would probably
go for something like that. Right now, it's simply not worth the time, energy
and money to buy what's on the market.

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Dryw
I'd go even further. Why not sell a subscription pass? For $20 a month, you
get unlimited access to all the books in Amazon's catalog. Each rental would
expire after two weeks, and you'd be free to take that book out again and
again.

I'd deal with the necessary DRM if this idea was implemented.

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elblanco
Most local library systems nowadays let you do something kinda like this --
except for free.

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boredguy8
The comments section finally broke through my dense thinking by explaining why
you only look to marginal cost.

[http://business.theatlantic.com/2010/02/amazon_vs_publishers...](http://business.theatlantic.com/2010/02/amazon_vs_publishers_and_apple_what_should_e-
book_prices_look_like.php#comment-381507)

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iterationx
$10 seems too high when all the out of copyright stuff is available for about
$1.

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waterlesscloud
You know, Macmillan books still aren't available to buy from Amazon. _Through_
Amazon, via third parties, but not actually _from_ Amazon.

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aresant
Seems to me that given the inevitability of piracy in this new format,
publishers will likely not see any substantial net gains from the higher
prices, which may in fact simply offset the cost of piracy on the platform.

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elblanco
$5-7

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Raphael
Let's make it an even 0.

