5 ms·

Why is $10 too much for an ebook ? - surely it depends on the value of the content inside it. Valuing a book by it's physical properties is a practice that's g

by ig1 16y ago

Why is $10 too much for an ebook ? - surely it depends on the value of the content inside it. Valuing a book by it's physical properties is a practice that's gone on for far too long. Lots of technical books are full of "padding" and duplication because no-one will buy a 50 page book which concisely provides the useful information for $10-$20. It waste a huge amount of time both of the author and the readers.

ori_b 16y ago
I would gladly pay more for a thinner, more concise book.
- ig1 16y ago
  Me too. But sadly the market at the moment doesn't seem to support it.
- awj 16y ago
  I have come to use the term "frighteningly thing" to describe most of the math and comp sci textbooks I decided were worth keeping. They are tiny, polished, beautiful gems rather than a ton and a half of rock studded with some promising crystals.
  - ori_b 16y ago
    Any especially good ones you care to mention?
    - awj 16y ago
      What I have in the room with me: 1. Modern Algebra by John R. Durbin 2. Introduction to the Theory of Computation by Michael Sipser 3. Machine Learning - An Algorithmic Perspective by Stephen Marsland (not quite on the same level as the above two, but still pretty solid) I think Tanenbaum's Operating System and Appel's Compilers books both go in this category too, they're big but not compared to their subject matter. But, I've seen enough people disappointed in both to think this is more my personal opinion at play.
Tichy 16y ago
"Why is $10 too much for an ebook ? - surely it depends on the value of the content inside it." I think if we are talking about entertainment books (novels and such), there simply is too much competition. At the end of the day, a lot of those entertainment books could be exchanged for another entertainment book. I suppose for similar reasons cinema tickets tend to not vary too much with the content of the movie?
- ig1 16y ago
  Cinema tickets are fixed due to price fixing by the big movie studios. Studios don't want some movies to be priced lower than other movies as that would send the signal that the cheaper movies are worse than the more expensive movies. A few years ago Stelios of EasyJet fame tried to start a cinema chain which offered dynamic pricing, Warner Bros, Disney, and 20th Century Fox all refused to licence any of their movies to him which more or less killed his business.
- runevault 16y ago
  Yes and no on replaceability. On one hand you could argue within a range one book is as good as another. However for many people, once they come to enjoy an authors work, that particular author is "not replaceable" because you want his unique writing voice/take on things/etc. Until you find those authors you adore to that degree, however, yes books are totally interchangeable after a certain quality threshold is passed.
falcolas 16y ago
To me, $10 for an ebook is too much because of the significant restrictions that come with it. For your average ebook, you can't resell it, you can't lend it, it can arbitrarily be taken from you; you don't "own" the book. $10 for a license to read a book seems far too high. On the flip side, the convenience of ebooks helps to defray some of these obvious cons.
timwiseman 16y ago
One reason lots of technical books have duplication is because the author knows that a lot of people do not read them cover to cover. Instead they pick and choose the sections that seem relevant/interesting to them and having a recap of some of the key background material needed by that section right there is very useful.
joshfinnie 16y ago
I guess what I meant to say is that $10 is too much for an ebook which is selling significantly cheaper in paperback or slightly more in hardcover. My favorite example of this is Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand: it is $18.99 to buy it for a nook, but $9.99 for the paperback (and as low as $1 used, but that's beyond the argument).
awj 16y ago
> surely it depends on the value of the content inside it. It doesn't when an ebook is priced higher than paper editions with the same content. I do agree on the padding, though.

by ig1 16y ago

ori_b 16y ago

I would gladly pay more for a thinner, more concise book.

ig1 16y ago
Me too. But sadly the market at the moment doesn't seem to support it.
awj 16y ago
I have come to use the term "frighteningly thing" to describe most of the math and comp sci textbooks I decided were worth keeping. They are tiny, polished, beautiful gems rather than a ton and a half of rock studded with some promising crystals.
- ori_b 16y ago
  Any especially good ones you care to mention?
  - awj 16y ago
    What I have in the room with me: 1. Modern Algebra by John R. Durbin 2. Introduction to the Theory of Computation by Michael Sipser 3. Machine Learning - An Algorithmic Perspective by Stephen Marsland (not quite on the same level as the above two, but still pretty solid) I think Tanenbaum's Operating System and Appel's Compilers books both go in this category too, they're big but not compared to their subject matter. But, I've seen enough people disappointed in both to think this is more my personal opinion at play.

Tichy 16y ago

"Why is $10 too much for an ebook ? - surely it depends on the value of the content inside it." I think if we are talking about entertainment books (novels and such), there simply is too much competition. At the end of the day, a lot of those entertainment books could be exchanged for another entertainment book. I suppose for similar reasons cinema tickets tend to not vary too much with the content of the movie?

ig1 16y ago
Cinema tickets are fixed due to price fixing by the big movie studios. Studios don't want some movies to be priced lower than other movies as that would send the signal that the cheaper movies are worse than the more expensive movies. A few years ago Stelios of EasyJet fame tried to start a cinema chain which offered dynamic pricing, Warner Bros, Disney, and 20th Century Fox all refused to licence any of their movies to him which more or less killed his business.
runevault 16y ago
Yes and no on replaceability. On one hand you could argue within a range one book is as good as another. However for many people, once they come to enjoy an authors work, that particular author is "not replaceable" because you want his unique writing voice/take on things/etc. Until you find those authors you adore to that degree, however, yes books are totally interchangeable after a certain quality threshold is passed.

falcolas 16y ago

To me, $10 for an ebook is too much because of the significant restrictions that come with it. For your average ebook, you can't resell it, you can't lend it, it can arbitrarily be taken from you; you don't "own" the book. $10 for a license to read a book seems far too high. On the flip side, the convenience of ebooks helps to defray some of these obvious cons.

timwiseman 16y ago

One reason lots of technical books have duplication is because the author knows that a lot of people do not read them cover to cover. Instead they pick and choose the sections that seem relevant/interesting to them and having a recap of some of the key background material needed by that section right there is very useful.

joshfinnie 16y ago

I guess what I meant to say is that $10 is too much for an ebook which is selling significantly cheaper in paperback or slightly more in hardcover. My favorite example of this is Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand: it is $18.99 to buy it for a nook, but $9.99 for the paperback (and as low as $1 used, but that's beyond the argument).

awj 16y ago

> surely it depends on the value of the content inside it. It doesn't when an ebook is priced higher than paper editions with the same content. I do agree on the padding, though.