Sony eReader moan

[Ethel]

I would love one of these - even with the �200 price tag. It would make reading so much easier as I could make the font larger and it is easier to manipulate than a heavy book.

Also it would be great when I go on holiday, instead of carrying several heavy books.

The one obstacle to me buying one is the price of ebooks - they are nearly as expensive, and in some cases cost more, as the paperback versions.

Can anyone explain why this is? I understand the author has to get the royalties, and the publisher and retailer take cuts, but once it is in e format, they can sell as many as they can without the costs of buying the raw materials, publishing, transporting, displaying, shop wages and so on.

If I buy a standard book I can sell it, or donate it to the charity shop or give it away if I wish. This clearly isn't the case with an ebook.

So any explanations as to the high cost of ebooks would be welcome.

[marwel7]

Is it new titles you are looking at or older backlist titles? How do you the prices compare?

[Rosetta]

I suppose its like all new technologies it works on the economy of scale. Plus there are few competitors in the field as yet. As it catches on I am sure the prices will fall

[Ethel]

It's current books that are expensive. At the moment they are only available from Waterstones.

An example is Ian Rankin's book Doors Open.

Paperback - �10.98
http://www.waterstones.com/waterstonesweb/disp layProductDetails.do?sku=6054180

eBook - �15.19
http://www.waterstones.com/waterstonesweb/disp layProductDetails.do?sku=6432439

The Sleeping Doll is �4.19 in paperback, �5.59 in eBook

Same company, books taken at random.

[LeMarchand]

I would suspect that:

a) They figure that if you can afford �200 for a reader, they can screw you out of a bit more money.

b) It's a lot easier to crack the DRM on an ebook and then make it available for however you want to give it to than it is to scan in and OCR a whole book.

You can only get out of copyright books (this includes most "classics"), but Project Gutenberg is a great resource.

I think I've said before, it may not be as fancy as a dedicated eReader, but a lot of phones and most PDAs can read eBooks and adjust font size etc. I use my HTC Touch for that purpose quite often - and it's one less thing to carry around!

[Caribeing]

Ethel thanks for the info on EBook! I was tempted to get one but didn't realise the cost of the Ebooks! Will hold on maybe they will all come down in price! cedit crunching!!