The High Cost of Reading

With the announcement of the iPad and the accompanying iBooks store (which seems pretty analogous to the iTunes store), larger publishers are threatening to ditch Amazon Kindle's $9.99 e-book model. After all, iBooks is looking to sell e-books closer to $14.99 (as well as offering publishers a bigger cut of the sales).

But, this has me wondering one thing: Why the hell do e-books cost so much?

An e-reader itself costs $200-$400, and the cheapest iPad will be $500. And then each book will cost between $9.99 and $14.99, which is about the same price as an e-book printed out in an actual book. It is therefore, much more expensive to read e-books than real books.

So according to the current price models, why would I want to buy an e-reader???? EVER????

The publishers and retailers of e-books appear to be using a similar model as iTunes. First you buy an mp3 player, then you buy each song for $0.99 each or $9.99 for an entire album. Since CD retailers are nearly extinct, I think this model is working.

I don't think this will work out the same way for books, though. Why? Because PEOPLE LIKE BOOKS, whereas, NO ONE EVER LIKED CDS. The only device that stores music that people have ever liked is vinyl records and fucking iPods. By contrast, everybody loves building their own personal library shelves.

I've been watching this e-book pricing story unfold and wondering, how can they be so thick? Why are they trying to keep the price of media the same, regardless of the format it's delivered in? Why are they practically engaging in price-fixing like goddamn mobsters instead of acting like the capitalists they claim to be and competing for consumers?

Why is Rupert Murdoch speaking out in defense of hardback retailers (quoted as saying "We think it really devalues books and hurts all the retailers of hardcover books")? Does it have something to do with changing the New York Times website to a pay-site?

And why are several governments of the world all at once dog-piling on Google's ambitious Google Books venture?

I think this is damage control, a desperate stopgap to keep the business of print the same. I think this is a larger strategy between the Big Boys of Print to get take back their leverage. Which once again makes them sound a lot like a group of mobsters.