Monday, October 31, 2011

Things That Annoy Me, Part 54,622

So I go to buy an e-book on Amazon…

Hardback - $7.43
Paperback - $7.93
Kindle - $12.99

Seriously, Random House?!?

(6) Comments
Posted by Jed at 2039 hrs
Off-Duty

  1. North Face Store

    Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on November 01, 2011 at 0158 hrs


  2. It’s not Random House, it’s likely Amazon.  They’re the only beneficiary on a Kindle version.

    Posted by Kevin Binversie on November 01, 2011 at 0212 hrs


  3. This is the reason I am very disappointed in my Nook. 

    Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on November 01, 2011 at 0520 hrs


  4. I know when I see pricing like that on Amazon’s kindle store it says “Price set by the publisher.”  So it could very well be Random House.

    Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on November 01, 2011 at 0534 hrs


  5. That’s one reason why I returned my Kindle for credit.

    That, and I didn’t care all that much for the rreading experience. In particular, in a non-fiction book I often like to keep bookmarks where the tables or graphs are. And flipping between bookmarks on Kindle was painfully slow (select menu, select bookmarks, select particular bookmark, wait for page refresh).

    But I was also annoyed that the Kindle format is proprietary, and thus one gets stuck in vendor lock-in. And, used paper books are often available- even for recent releases- at a fraction of the Kindle price.

    Of course, it’s not hard to see the publisher’s thinking- they know how to make money on paper books, and don’t want to see that market cannibalized by lower cost electronic editions.

    But perhaps a better question would be, “What is an e-book?” Presently an e-book is just a paper book that’s beenre-formatted for an e-reader. But cars were once horseless carriages, computer word processors were electronic typewritere, etc., etc.

    That is, the first reaction to a new invention is to use it a new version of something old. But in time the new thing becomes something quite different.

    So, what is an e-book? And what might it become as it drifts away from its roots in paper?

    Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on November 01, 2011 at 0726 hrs


  6. I have a Nook Color and love it.  I get almost every book I read for free from the library.

    Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on November 01, 2011 at 1933 hrs


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