Digital books....

[hgilmer3]

Are they going to be less and less utilized as the pricing gets more and more out of line with how much the physical books cost?

I looked at a book this morning that was just put into paperback. Digital cost - $19.99. Paperback cost $6.45. Publisher - Random House.

I'll buy all my damned books used if I have to. I'd rather give my money to some guy selling his used book online than giving that much for a digital book.

Does anyone know how much it costs to put a book into a readable digital version?

[Phatguy]

Less than it costs to publish a real honest to goodness  paper one. The profit from the paper one might hit 30 or so percent for all phases. The profit from the digital one? Ludicrously high....They can charge a lot because it is "new" and every tom, dick and jane want one just to show up their friends...

I think eventually they will take over for paper books and magazines due to the enormous profits they can generate. Once the readers drop into the 20-30 dollar range we will see that...

But I hope I am wrong

[Hertston]

ORIGINAL: hgilmer3

Are they going to be less and less utilized as the pricing gets more and more out of line with how much the physical books cost?

I looked at a book this morning that was just put into paperback. Digital cost - $19.99. Paperback cost $6.45. Publisher - Random House.

I'll buy all my damned books used if I have to. I'd rather give my money to some guy selling his used book online than giving that much for a digital book.

Does anyone know how much it costs to put a book into a readable digital version?

From the point of view of the publishers, next to nothing as they are in an easy to convert format before printing.

At the moment it's just the wonderful free market at work (although, in my experience, the differential is rarely that wide). Publishers think the folks who are currently likely to buy Kindles, Sony Readers, iPads etc will be happy to fork out that much for books to read on them. When every school kid has one, hopefully the prices will equate.

It's even worse for us Euros as while printed books are exempt from VAT (currently 20% in the UK) digital ones are not, something publishers can do nothing about. It's just the law not keeping pace with technology, although nobody is likely to cut that tax at the moment. Paperbacks, particularly novels, tend to be more expensive over here too.

[hgilmer3]

ORIGINAL: Hertston

ORIGINAL: hgilmer3

Are they going to be less and less utilized as the pricing gets more and more out of line with how much the physical books cost?

I looked at a book this morning that was just put into paperback. Digital cost - $19.99. Paperback cost $6.45. Publisher - Random House.

I'll buy all my damned books used if I have to. I'd rather give my money to some guy selling his used book online than giving that much for a digital book.

Does anyone know how much it costs to put a book into a readable digital version?

From the point of view of the publishers, next to nothing as they are in an easy to convert format before printing.

At the moment it's just the wonderful free market at work (although, in my experience, the differential is rarely that wide). Publishers think the folks who are currently likely to buy Kindles, Sony Readers, iPads etc will be happy to fork out that much for books to read on them. When every school kid has one, hopefully the prices will equate.

It's even worse for us Euros as while printed books are exempt from VAT (currently 20% in the UK) digital ones are not, something publishers can do nothing about. It's just the law not keeping pace with technology, although nobody is likely to cut that tax at the moment. Paperbacks, particularly novels, tend to be more expensive over here too.

I'm very much learning more and more on the issue as the day goes on. It has been noted by several people online (Cnet and Random House's forums) about the strange and drastic pricing structure of some digital books. I'm sorry that you have to deal with the VAT and I hope it doesn't come here (although some suggest it to save us from our budget woes).

I'm going to "vote" with my wallet and if there is a publisher that seems to be gouging (although I know I'm using that term loosely with a non-essential product), I will buy the used book and the publisher can go pound sand.

[RedArgo]

I recently read an article, Computer World or US News maybe, that speculated that Amazon makes so much from the e-books they may start giving the Kindle away for free. Since the book format on the Kindle is proprietery, it might work for them. The Amazon CEO, whose name I can't remember, Bezios?, didn't confirm or deny the report.

[Adam Parker]

Digital prices are indeed on the rise but in a country like Australia where local publishing houses are being given import protection, many fiction titles are still unavailable in digital form. Go figure.

That said, I'm still an avid Kindle supporter but here's a recent epiphany:

I downloaded the iPhone Kindle App and WOW! What a mind blowing experience.

First off, everything on my actual Kindles is now in full color. Everything has a better formatting and the inteface - it's just a pure delight. Highlighting with the yellow effect is a dream. Browsing is so much simpler. Page turning is lightning quick.

I leave my Kindle behind now and read on my iPhone. The Kindle of course isn't backlit, so the iPhone is perfect then too.

Yes, I still love my printed books - always will - and in the case of some reference books like a thesaurus, A-Z format guides and books requiring illustration, paper remains the way to go.

However, with the popularity of digital reading, manufacturers are also going to need to step up their quality control. Still too many typos and formatting issues. Wayward lines, split words, pagination and paragraphing losses etc. This will determine whether the benefits of the printed book will ever be outweighed. The industry still has a very long way to go.

Yet, personally, for now? The last 5 books I've read have been on my "Kindles". I've got a le Carre novel spinning full speed right at the moment [:)]

[Adam Parker]

Btw , following from what RedArgo wrote, the Kindle iPhone App is free of course [;)]

So free (or much cheaper) Kindles down the track? Make sense.

PS: I wonder how much their "free" global WhisperSync download service is ccosting them? Could this be why prices are slowly rising?

[E]

Civilian: I hope I'm not crowding you. What's the matter? Don't you like books?

Man in Uniform: Oh, I like them fine, but a computer takes less space.

Civilian: A computer, huh? I got one of these in my office. Contains all the precedents, a synthesis of all the great legal decisions written throughout time. - I never use it. - Why not? I've got my own system. Books, young man, books. Thousands of them. If time wasn't so important, I'd show you something-- my library. Thousands of books. - What would be the point? - This is where the law is, not in that homogenized, pasteurized, synthesized-- Do you want to know the law, the ancient concepts in their own language, Learn the intent of the men who wrote them, from Moses to the tribunal of Alpha 3? Books.

Man in Uniform: You have to be either an obsessive crackpot who's escaped from his keeper or Samuel T. Cogley, attorney-at-law.

[Fred98]

1. Does Kindle use PDF format?
 
2. Does the iPad use PDF format?
 
-
 
 

[Adam Parker]

Hi Joe, I read PDF's on my Kindles and Apples.

As for their commercial book formats I believe Amazon's Kindle and Apple's iBooks are proprietory beasts (Kindle can be read on Apple but iBooks is Apple alone - interesting).

Side note: The iPad 2 is moving in the right direction imo. Thinner and lighter, will make the Kindle, Nook, Kobi etc., defunct eventually, I feel - especially if the screen can be kept clean. There's a new clip on magnetic microfibre cover for the v2. Looks nifty.

I don't know if I'll succumb this year but iPad v3 could be a goer [;)]

But my Thesaurus will always be paper!!

[sterckxe]

ORIGINAL: hgilmer3
I looked at a book this morning that was just put into paperback. Digital cost - $19.99. Paperback cost $6.45. Publisher - Random House.

I'll buy all my damned books used if I have to. I'd rather give my money to some guy selling his used book online than giving that much for a digital book.

I've got a digital subscription to Battlegames Magazine and the Classic Wargamers Journal - and they are a fair amount cheaper than the printed version which for a read-once-and-store magazine is perfect, but almost all my books I buy second-hand at Amazon as currently digital books are ridiculously expensive. I'll revise my strategy when prices drop - and they will.

Greetz,

Eddy Sterckx

[SuluSea]

In the month or less that I've owned a Kindle I've seen some books rise as much as 4 dollars. Unless you have money to blow or want it for reading PDF files/game manuals I'd urge you to hold off on the purchase. I've noted many books I can get cheaper buying used or in a few cases buying physical copys new.

[Lützow]

The majority of e-books are a pure rip-off, at least where I live. Considering the fact that publishers save a) production costs and b) dealer commission, they are still way too pricey. However, there exists some exceptions though. I occasionally buy O'Reilly computer books for my iPhone, as these are up to 90% cheaper in comparison to paperback issues and also available on iPad (which I'm probably going to pick later this year) in a reasonable size for reading.

On the other hand, the DRM ties me to iTunes and once I would switch to another platform, all my purchased e-books are lost. It doesn't matter if you currently use Kindle, iPad or whatever, as long as it includes a copy protection scheme. Sooner or later somebody will invent a better device or another OS and then you're screwed. Unlike software, books don't age and many are still interesting to read in decades.

So I'm rather careful with acquirements here and solely buy e-books which are either pretty cheap or not worth to keep anyway.

[Fred98]

Today I have a laptop, tomorrow I have a Kindle, the next day a Samsung tablet, and the next day an iPad.
 
When I buy an electronic book, I would like to be able to read it on each of those devices as I see fit.
 
If I can't do that, I am not interested in electronic books
-
 
 
 

[Phatguy]

I am not interested in e-books at all

[JWW]

I would much rather have a physical book than an ebook. In my opinion, a physical book is much easier to use, to read, to manipulate, than an ebook. And I'm not anti-technology. I love technology. I've got my phone, my desktop computer, my laptop, my ipod touch that I use as a mini-laptop around the house, work with computers at work all the time. I like the idea of ebooks and as a techer believe ebook technology will replace physical textbooks within the next 10 years and thus eliminate the school backpack. But I still think a physical book is a better tool than an ebook. As for the price, it is what the market will bear. I like the idea of Amazon giving away kindles. I would get one if they gave one away -- I assume with a certain amount of book purchases. If they gave a reasonable deal, I would get one.

Just this January I saw my first kindles at school. I teach at a high school in Louisiana. Two students brought in kindles after Christmas. Their parents bought them. They are avid readers, unlike many of my students. I would hope that e-technology would make more kids avid readers, but so far I haven't seen it. It is simply something that the avid readers are going to get.

[JWW]

Here btw is an article on the idea of Amazon giving away Kindles. Looks like it might well happen. I would assume the catch would be a certain amount of book purchases to go with it.

http://articles.cnn.com/2011-03-04/tech ... _s=PM:TECH

[Adam Parker]

Thanks for the link JW. It mentions my point earlier:

[center]"In a way, Amazon has already been giving away Kindles for awhile -- in the form of the free Kindle smartphone, tablet, and computer apps... The Kindle's core business model has always been to sell books, not devices. "[/center]

The one huge advantage I'm finding with my Kindle books is the highlighting and note taking. At the end of the exercize, I have a digitized record of everything that I can then browse and tranpose to a document later. Done right, it can even serve as a synopsis of a cpomplex book.

As for Joe's note above, I think the Amazon business model has it right. If there's a potential platform around, they want us to be able to read their books on it. See pic below.

Thing is, where will Amazon or any of the eBook bastions be in decades to come? Therefore, whenever I find I book I really love or value, I'll still buy a physical copy too. Remember, there are just some books today that still must be physical for their size, structure or illustrations.

I therefore think of Kindle as a convenience thing - a wonderful idea that makes reading and research for me so much easier in certain cases. That's why I buy its books.

However, it will never replace or serve as my personal library.

[jomni]

ORIGINAL: Joe 98

Today I have a laptop, tomorrow I have a Kindle, the next day a Samsung tablet, and the next day an iPad.

When I buy an electronic book, I would like to be able to read it on each of those devices as I see fit.

If I can't do that, I am not interested in electronic books
-

Adam Parker's post shows that Amazon is trying hard to make kindle books available to a wide range of devices.
But one problem for me... Amazon does not sell Kindle books to my country!!![:@]
Most of the time they blame the publisher's restrictions.

Anyway, I use another ebook store instead which uses industry standard epub unlike proprietary kindle.

[hgilmer3]

ORIGINAL: sterckxe

ORIGINAL: hgilmer3
I looked at a book this morning that was just put into paperback. Digital cost - $19.99. Paperback cost $6.45. Publisher - Random House.

I'll buy all my damned books used if I have to. I'd rather give my money to some guy selling his used book online than giving that much for a digital book.

I've got a digital subscription to Battlegames Magazine and the Classic Wargamers Journal - and they are a fair amount cheaper than the printed version which for a read-once-and-store magazine is perfect, but almost all my books I buy second-hand at Amazon as currently digital books are ridiculously expensive. I'll revise my strategy when prices drop - and they will.

Greetz,

Eddy Sterckx

Exactly. In the last year and a half or so, Amazon was forced not to offer books at lower than what the publisher wants them to charge for. That is why they have the disclaimer that the publisher is the one that sets the price. These prices have made me rethink in exactly the way you are thinking.