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Why does this e-book cost $14? (cnet.com)
6 points by sdfx on Aug 21, 2009 | hide | past | favorite | 3 comments



Until ebooks are priced lower than a mass-market paperback, they're a non-starter for me.

The only possible exception, which, actually, would be my preference, is a subscription service. I can, after all, only read one book at any one given point in time. Ideally, author royalties would be based on this, too, to encourage more engaging writing.


Another point that the author fails to bring up is that there is no legit secondary market for ebooks, so you can't do the thing where you buy the hardcover at Costco, read it in a weekend, and resell it for about what you paid for it on half.com.


Typical song: 24 Mbit Typical book: 6 Mbit

I peruse (listen to) the bits of a song much, much more frequently than I peruse a book. This makes the book outrageously overpriced relative to the song. And I've pretty much stopped buying music, but I still buy books. Looks like I won't be buying any ebooks anytime soon, though.




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