Pol

Amazon Pulls Thousands of E-Books in Dispute - NYTimes.com

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"I'll show you the life of the mind!"

bladyblue

If Amazon pulls the plug on all of our digital books, we may be hurled back into the dark ages and be forced to read books made of PAPER!

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I've seen things you people wouldn't believe. Attack ships on fire off the shoulder of Orion. I watched C-beams glitter in the dark near the Tannhauser gate. All those moments will be lost in time... like tears in the rain...Time to die.-Roy Batty

Sid Nagy

IMHO a book should be made of paper.

zaphodzzplural

For one.. dropping your book in the bath is WAY more inconvenient when it's powered by electricity.

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"...what we demand are rigidly defined areas of doubt and uncertainty- Vroomfondel


The blog I help out on http://fictionalinsanity.wordpress.com/

Void

Books are. (an e-book is nothing but a glorified text file with better profit margins)

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Cat Fratica

I presumed it referred to eBooks that were 'e' only - there's lots of those sold very cheaply. eBook versions of those old fashioned papery things onthe other hand are sometimes more expensive!?!?

Chalice Yao

Kind of like games which get digitally downloaded are sold just as expensive as the versions that sit in the shelves of game stores, complete with packaging, shipping expenses, physical media and everything.

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"Have you ever noticed that anybody driving slower than you is an idiot, and anyone going faster than you is a maniac?" - George Carlin

Cat Fratica

Yeah - last book I went on Amazon to buy was Dance with Dragons - the price was almost double (still slightly more expensive) so I downloaded a torrent. I wanted to pay but that was just taking the p*ss!

Jahar Aabye

Yes, that's because in most cases the prices are set by the publishers. This story was about Amazon telling a publisher that if they wanted to renew their contract after it expired, they needed to set realistic prices.

The news story is horribly slanted. There was a business negotiation, an agreement couldn't be reached. I almost threw something through the screen at this little snide aside in the article:

Those buttons are on the page for every book that is not available in Kindle format. I know because I've pushed that button many times when an old out-of-print title wasn't available in Kindle format.

The problem isn't Amazon, it isn't e-books. It's publishers who insist on pricing their e-books at the same cost as their paperback or hardcover books. It's an idiotic business practice, because there's no overhead per-item cost involved, so your best means of maximizing revenues is to price it lower and get more sales, although obviously there is a point where lowering it further won't increase sales significantly enough to offset the lower cost.

But the problem is with the publishers. The publishers, not surprisingly, would like people to blame Amazon/B&N/i-Store or e-books in general. It's the same problem with being able to lend e-books. Amazon has that ability for Kindles (I presume B&N does as well for Nook), but the publisher has to choose to enable it, and many of them don't do so.

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Casey Pelous

And, in turn, the publishers' "problem" is bookstores who are struggling to survive.

It isn't hard to imagine the printed book going the way of lp's and cd's. I'm almost appalled at how effortlessly I left buying paper behind when I got my Kindle. Now if their magazine selection ever improves ........

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"I am not more than a lossy Human being, and think that we all are equals..." - Wasted Engineer

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bladyblue

I've only read Vanity Fair for the last 15 years. It is a very elusive magazine. Smartphone magazine apps need to get better.

DanielRavenNest

You would not say that if you have had to reinforce the foundations of three different houses, or move 5 tons of books and magazines like I have. I'm donating books to goodwill and the library when I finish reading them now, and am getting electronic copies instead to save weight and space.

OrinB

If all you need out of a book is the text and a quick read through, an e-book is fine. Even then i find them odd as there aren't enough words on the pages. I don't like the shorter pages, i find them difficult to read. I prefer to get immersed in a page of text. It's for that reason i see e-books needing to be cheaper than the printed version.

I also love to have a ton of non-fiction books open and available when i'm working or researching. Tabbing them all with post-its, comparing 2 or more pages in the same book by frequently flicking, the feel of the pages and all that tactile malarky that makes books so much more real.

I have a feeling publishers are missing out on assisting book stores to sell e-books directly from their stores. Giving options to download the e-book for free from the store itself when you buy the printed version; offering special teasers for new books when you go to bookstores etc. Im sure there are a myriad of ways book stores and publishers can work together without relying on the global giants. The only reason amazon has gone so far in this field is that it is pushing the boundaries. Bookstores need to follow suit and not just offer e-readers for sale, but work with publishers to offer downloads on the spot.

Photostores have machines for accepting many digital file formats in order to capitalise and charge to print images. I don't see why technology can't be utilised to provide download stations in bookstores too...

Misty Harley

Publishers are starting to go the way of music moguls in that they are getting a bit pissy that people are bypassing them and publishing books themselves under the e-reader status. You no longer *need* a publisher to get a book available for purchase. People are starting to do it on their own and for some, they are doing very well with it.

Publishers, like the music industry, are blaming the electronic age. When they should be taking advantage of it and using it to the best of their ability to promote their authors. Instead, they are looking out for only themselves and their own bottom dollar without taking into consideration that their bottom dollar can go up if they would just learn to work with the current times instead of fighting against it.

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