Shopping for a new bestseller the other day, I was stoked to find it available on my Kindle, until I saw the price- $15.99. as a B&N member, I could walk in and pay that for the hardcover edition. I was left wondering what did happen to the promised $9.99 pricepoint.

It's really too bad, they're going to end up pricing themselves out of the ebook business. Not that Amazon's any different than anyone else, (I'm looking at you Sony), but ebooks will never really take off until they're priced fairly.

I almost never spend over $10 on books. Why? I buy used actual books. It is nice getting books from anywhere from 25¢ to $2 most of the time.

How can a copy of a book with no cover at all be priced the same as a hard cover copy? i understand they try to "value" it but the hard cover is for show, and paperback for reading.. so shouldn't we treat the digital copy as a version purchased for reading? This will lead to book torrents if they don't already exist.

These seems awfully similar to the whole Circuit City Divx fiasco. I'm all for high tech, but if I'm gonna read a book, I'm gonna read a book, not some digital tablet, especially since there is no price advantage.

Considering the price of a Kindle, I think it is a terrible investment. Why pay, what is it, $300+, and it only reads books.

Why not buy an iPod Touch that one could use not only for e-books but also music, video, photos, and web surfing?

The Amazon Kindle seems like an overpriced one-trick pony.

@Plates: I keep a massive wishlist of books on Amazon, and sync it with Wishradar and set a $4 price point. It can take a while (as in, a year or more) for a used copy of a book to come in at the magic number, but since it requires no work on my part--WishRadar sends you an email alert when a title hits the price point you choose--it's an easy way to find bargains.

Commodities are up people. Gold, silver, copper, orange juice concentrate, pork bellies and even those
pesky expensive electrons that are used to send the "book" to your Kindle. Why just the other day I had to pay over a penny for a bundle of 3 trillion electrons.

This just reaffirms my opinion that you've got to be a grade-A sucker to buy one of these devices.

I don't have a kindle, but when I can buy used books for $2-$6 a few months after they come out, and actually have a physical copy I can read later, or trade into the used book store for credit....personally, a kindle book would need to be $3-$6 for me to consider it.

@Saboth:

Especially since they save so much on printing, full color covers, distribution, stocking, etc.

Kind of like how you download CDs on the internet, and for some reason they are still $11-$12, and you can go buy an actual CD for the same price...shouldn't the downloads be more like $6-$8, since they don't have to press the CDs, ship them, etc?

I actually just discovered that I can get almost all audiobooks and a lot of PDF, etc.... from a website affiliated with my library. My particular site is www.mymediamall.net They have new releases, etc... and it's 100% free. I was stunned at the selection. These can be burned to CD's just like Audible. I'm sure for those not in Illinois, there are similar sites. Just check the "references" link on your libraries' website.

I find it amazing, the audacity of these publishers. You see with a regular book there is the cost of paper, printing, and then distrubution. In addition there are storage costs. An ebook's file size is small and costs virtually nothing to store or transmit.

I also find that we consumers have walked into a trap with digital content. Unlike the Books, DVDs/VHS, and CDs of the past, we can't sell products we don't need any longer yet we still pay close the same price for something with less rights.

This is the same crap that's been going on with the Sony store. My wife has had a PRS-500 since the day it came out and we've purchased over 200 books E-books through the store. You would expect to save a couple dollars on each book (and it seemed like it was going that way at first) but lately the prices have risen to the point where a lot are more expensive than the paperback versions.

Great job Sony - lets make sure we turn the E-books into another memory stick. Is retardation a requirement to run one of Sony's entertainment units?

@Skeetz:

They do exist but many readers use proprietary formats so they're not as common as other files.

@Saboth: Ditto. The Kindle's been tempting me, but until I can get an e-book for less than a new paperback (used bookstores are non-existent in my area, and I buy books on impulse most of the time, and second-hand stores typically only have trashy romance novels), I'll pass. Especially with that $300 initial cost.

Someone is going to have to explain why the Kindle is ever economical, "heavy reader" or no. $10 a pop for e-books on a proprietary platform? I guess if you are one of those people who only buys first-edition hardbacks and you're running out of room in your apartment, okay, but otherwise the math just doesn't make sense. Is there a 'used book' market where you can re-sell your ebooks?

Doesn't the Kindle have some sort of DRM?

I'd love to buy an e-book reader, but until they make a good one that will read PDFs (and display color, I'm not sure if the Kindle will do that) I'm rather hesitant.

Or I could just be wrong.

@apronk: It is pricy, but I absolutely love my Kindle. I have about 50 books on it, and love baing able to take them all with me when I travel, and shop for new ones when I want. Also, the E-ink screen makes the Kindle/Sony reader far better for reading a book than the 2-inch screen on an iPod.

@Skeetz: oh book torrents already exist. I don't have a kindle, so I never looked into seeing if you can put these types of downloads on your Kindle.

@I_have_something_to_say: in short: yes

@Divals: You do not want the Kindle, then:

- it has DRM
- b/w display only (color digital ink displays are a few years off)
- will display PDFs, but not 100% accurately every time
- pricing scheme is obviously still being worked out, and may end up being overpriced

The promise of the ebook falls short once again. The Kindle and others of its kind have had one major failing that a book never had. Losing it at the airport is a big dent in the pocketbook.

@qwickone: Hmmm wonder what download speeds I could get with some good seeders (lol).. if they work with the kindle or the sony reader i'd actually get one.

Amazon just announced that they will only support Kindle-exclusive formatting, no PDFs.

Vertical integration is a tempting business to be in, but as somewhat with Sony, and to a great extent with Apple have all limited their sales base to those who buy into the brand exclusively.

@jojo319:

Actually, here's a locater for every state!

[search.overdrive.com]

So is it amazon that is raising the prices or the publisher? My Guess is the publisher but that doesnt let amazon off the hook.

Shame on Amazon for making grandiose promises but not ensuring they can meet them. The needed to set up an E-book deal with the publisher's the likes of Apples -Itunes(all mp3's 99 cents=all ebooks $9.99)

Shame on the publishers for once again just not getting it and killing a golden goose before it can even begin laying eggs(aka too greedy too fast).

E-books is still something people aren't sold on so you can't raise prices on it and generate bad press. This is their big shot with oprah and amazon pushing it. If it blow's up then publishers are stuck with print, and just ask any newspaper how the print industry is doing.

You want free/cheap books that don't permanently take up your space and have no digital rights management? Go to your public library!

I just love my public library. It has almost every book I want to read. Last time I bought a novel was years ago.

I would only buy an e-book if it was about 30-40% cheaper then a paperback

Just make sure you don't pay all of that money for a book that's out of copyright. Once the copyright expires, it enters the public domain, and can be obtained from Project Gutenberg for free. http://www.gutenberg.org/wiki/Main_Page

@Saboth:

They don't save as much on stocking and distribution as you'd think. You'd think servers and databases would be vastly less expensive and/or risky compared to brick-and-mortar stores, but they're quite costly.

Book publishers are no different than record companies.
Greedy publishers want to pave their driveways with gold.

Inkjet printer manufacturers are worse. They are like a drug dealer.

@jojo319: great tip, thx!

Same old same old....

Oh it will be wonderful! CDs will be so much cheaper!

Oh it will be wonderful! MP3s will be so much cheaper!

Oh it will be wonderful! E-books will be so much cheaper!

I've heard it all before. I'll hear it again, I'm sure. THIS is precisely why I didn't buy a Kindle. I knew it had to be coming.

The Kindle isn't priced for economy, though. It's prices like a "premium product." That's what bothers me most about it - it's being positioned as some sort of aspirational luxury item. Is that really right in an age when free content seems around every corner of the internet?

I was this close to buying one for my wife this Christmas, but this makes me glad I relented; a big part of my equation was the relative cost/space savings. We easily spend $1500 a year on books.

@LJKelley:

I also find that we consumers have walked into a trap with digital content. Unlike the Books, DVDs/VHS, and CDs of the past, we can't sell products we don't need any longer yet we still pay close the same price for something with less rights.

You have made an excellent point. What if you drop the Kindle? Oooops, there goes 100 books valued at $1000.00
Hard drive crashes? There goes 5000 songs.
iPod gets stolen? Sorry again.

And for those who say you should have a backup, how many people actually back up their music if they don't even do their hard drive?

As a Kindle owner, I bought it not caring about their $9.99 promise, because I knew I'd likely never spend even that much (not including scholarly books). I will NOT buy an ebook that is more or as expensive as a paperback regardless of the type of book. Amazon and the publishers needs to get a clue. Kindle books should be discounted twice. One, because everyone is saving money on production, storage, and shipping. And two, because of the drm. Not only are we not allowed to sell or lend our license to someone, but if Amazon decides the ebook business is no longer profitable, we FORFEIT our purchases. Because I can almost guarantee, neither Amazon or the publishers will be offering us paper books to make up for our losses.

That said, I've only bought one book (roughly four dollars) from Amazon since I've had the Kindle (about 6 months). Everything else I've read are free books from amazon, feedbooks, and manybooks, as well as journal articles for my profession. This has made the kindle worth it. Books, I'm not sure I'll read over and over again, I'll get from the library. Books I want from my collection, I'll consider for my kindle, IF they are considerably cheaper than the paperback.

@I_have_something_to_say:

This is the same thing that was done with EZ Pass.
First you got a discount off the cash fee when you used it, then the discount was taken away, now they charge you a monthly fee.

ATM's were also meant to save the bank money by eliminating tellers, now there are a CASH COW.

FEEDBOOKS.COM They even have an RSS feed, a Kindle friendly web page. -AND- since the Kindle includes a web browser in the EVDO network (included free) you can navigate to the webpage, download the book (either print or audio version) and enjoy your new titles in seconds. Why pay Amazon for what you can get for free?

@Plates: I agree. The only books I ordinarily buy new are those that don't often come available in used copies and books from my favourite authors that I really do want to read OMGRIGHTNOW when they come out. Otherwise, I can wait for a used copy. Or even go to the library!

@Blueskylaw:

I believe the Kindle keeps a adtabase of all of the purchases you have made and allows you to re-download them if your Kindle breaks or is Lost.

@ADismalScience:
Storing an electronic version is something that they are doing now anyways. As far as servers, Amazon is doing that for them. So where's the cost to the publisher? Yes, there is a cost to Amazon, and yes we expect them to make a certain amount off the book, but it's the PUBLISHERS, who are setting a list price (to get their 40% or whatever it is), and then amazon bases it's charge off of that. Since the publishers are setting the digital price the same as the hardcover price usually (and at the lowest the paperback price), when they aren't the ones actually incurring the costs, it makes sense that consumers are a little irritated.

@Jeangenie:
Just announced it? They've stated that from the start. They don't support PDFs. It doesn't mean that they ban you from (quite easily) converting them and popping them on anyway.

@apronk: if you get a kindle, that's exactly why you do want it. although, the kindle can play mp3s, I like it because it's smaller than a book and it effectively holds as many books as I want. It's also much easier to read, as segador has said.

@mythago: Some people just like having/collecting books. I rarely resell my books so it's not a big deal for me.

@LJKelley: Having worked for a publisher, the costs for paper, printing, binding and shipping of the books we put out were usually around 10% of the total cost of producing the book. Most of the costs were paying quality editors, doing good design, etc., and those costs don't go away when you do an electronic version. Printing costs are a much smaller part of the overall expense of a book than most seem to think.

People actually buy books for their Kindles? If the prices were more reasonable, I'm sure I'd buy more (instead of convert "free" PDF's)

@LeahBehemoth: And for blogs you want to subscribe to, try kindlefeeder.com. Much, much cheaper (as in, free) than paying for blogs via the Amazon store.

@mythago: I used to cling to my books like they were made of gold...and then I got smart and realized that my collection of books wasn't worth the grief over moving them everytime I moved into a new place, or moving them whenever I needed more space for books. I donated a lot of them to the library, which made me very happy considering I spend a lot of time getting books from the library, and it's a public project I really support.