Why Nobody Likes E-Books

CybrGuyRSB writes: "In today's Chicago Tribune, there is an interesting article about the total unpopularity of e-books. It seems to partly tie their failure into their copyright protection and briefly discusses the Skylarov case."

Comments

Re:Well duh

[joshv]

So what? Price is a function of demand, not of costs. (cf. Economics 101

hmmmmmm... And one can observe directly that the demand is low because the price is too high. The makers of e-books are ignoring the fundamental economics of the situation. When demand is low you drop prices until sales pick up.
<p><I>
You're also forgetting that most of the cost of a book, CD, etc has nothing to do with the physical representation of the object. You think that the $50 for a copy of, say, the 3rd Camel book is paper costs?</I><p>
There are some high over head costs associated with printing books. For limited printing runs this can directly effect the price because you do not have a large enough volume acrossed which to dilute the over head.

Anyway my point is that a books is a costly and complex thing to make, it seems to me that a product that does not involve that overhead should cost less.

-josh

Re:Well duh

[andy@petdance.com]

9. The books should cost LESS than normal books. Why? Because it does cost less to make an e-book - you are just shoving bits, instead of printing, binding and distributing. Additionally people need a REASON to switch to E-books, making them cheaper might be a good incentive.

So what? Price is a function of demand, not of costs. (cf. Economics 101)

You're also forgetting that most of the cost of a book, CD, etc has nothing to do with the physical representation of the object. You think that the $50 for a copy of, say, the 3rd Camel book is paper costs?