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Scumbag Apple guilty of PRICE FIXING e-books



 
 
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  #1  
Old July 12th 13, 01:55 PM posted to rec.photo.digital
Mayayana
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 1,514
Default Scumbag Apple guilty of PRICE FIXING e-books


Ever wonder why an e-books costs
almost as much as a printed book, ...


I've always wondered why people buy e-books in
the first place. For a bit more one can actually own
the real book rather than leasing access to a transcript.
(And that's not counting the initial, steep investment
to buy a reader.)
I imagine the market is probably mostly women who
buy cheap emotional drama novels to read in the
space of a few days on the way to work. Junk books
used as pacifiers, which are probably cheap and there's
no reason to keep a copy of them, anyway.

Jobs had a winning strategy of going to the suppliers
and offering to fleece the customers together and split
the profits. ($1 for a song is also overpriced.) But don't
forget about Amazon. Apple's loss is Amazon's gain, and
that may be even worse. The NYT ran a piece last week
about how Amazon is starting to charge higher prices for
books now that they've nearly killed off bookstores. It's
the same way that CVS/Walgreens have driven out
drugstores, Home Depot has killed off lumber yards, and
Walmart is killing off much of merchandise retailing.
People can't resist the bargain prices, but it's not long
before only one store remains, with limited selection, and
the prices go up. Amazon now threatens to own both kinds
of book market -- printed and "e". If you shop at Amazon
(or at Walmart) you're helping them to pull off their strategy
and will have no basis for complaint when they succeed.


  #2  
Old July 12th 13, 02:20 PM posted to rec.photo.digital
J. Clarke[_2_]
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 1,273
Default Scumbag Apple guilty of PRICE FIXING e-books

In article , am says...

Ever wonder why an e-books costs
almost as much as a printed book, ...


I've always wondered why people buy e-books in
the first place. For a bit more one can actually own
the real book rather than leasing access to a transcript.
(And that's not counting the initial, steep investment
to buy a reader.)


The reader can pay for itself quickly--there's a lot of good stuff out
there that is public-domain--Caesar and Plato and Aristotle and the rest
for example, and Shakespeare, and Verne, Dickens, Austen, Dumas, etc.
Once one has the reader, one quickly discovers the convenience aspect--I
have the whole of the Harvard Classics in my pocket for example.

I imagine the market is probably mostly women who
buy cheap emotional drama novels to read in the
space of a few days on the way to work. Junk books
used as pacifiers, which are probably cheap and there's
no reason to keep a copy of them, anyway.

Jobs had a winning strategy of going to the suppliers
and offering to fleece the customers together and split
the profits. ($1 for a song is also overpriced.) But don't
forget about Amazon. Apple's loss is Amazon's gain, and
that may be even worse. The NYT ran a piece last week
about how Amazon is starting to charge higher prices for
books now that they've nearly killed off bookstores. It's
the same way that CVS/Walgreens have driven out
drugstores, Home Depot has killed off lumber yards, and
Walmart is killing off much of merchandise retailing.
People can't resist the bargain prices, but it's not long
before only one store remains, with limited selection, and
the prices go up. Amazon now threatens to own both kinds
of book market -- printed and "e". If you shop at Amazon
(or at Walmart) you're helping them to pull off their strategy
and will have no basis for complaint when they succeed.



  #4  
Old July 12th 13, 04:00 PM posted to rec.photo.digital
Savageduck[_3_]
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Posts: 16,487
Default Scumbag Apple guilty of PRICE FIXING e-books

On 2013-07-12 06:20:10 -0700, "J. Clarke" said:

In article , am says...

Ever wonder why an e-books costs
almost as much as a printed book, ...


I've always wondered why people buy e-books in
the first place. For a bit more one can actually own
the real book rather than leasing access to a transcript.
(And that's not counting the initial, steep investment
to buy a reader.)


The reader can pay for itself quickly--there's a lot of good stuff out
there that is public-domain--Caesar and Plato and Aristotle and the rest
for example, and Shakespeare, and Verne, Dickens, Austen, Dumas, etc.
Once one has the reader, one quickly discovers the convenience aspect--I
have the whole of the Harvard Classics in my pocket for example.


I have found that having a single repository, easily accessed for my
manuals, saved as PDFs to the iBooks app, to be quite convenient. Add
to that a few interesting books such as "Ansel Adams in Color", and
"Ansel Adams in the National Parks".

I also have the Kindle app on my iPad and I have picked up a few
e-books from Amazon as a way to get something I wanted to read
immediately, and not to have to pay shipping. Many times the Amazon
"Kindle" edition is far less costly than a physical copy.

Then there are the many public domain issues available from several sources.

--
Regards,

Savageduck

  #5  
Old July 12th 13, 04:16 PM posted to rec.photo.digital
nospam
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 24,165
Default Scumbag Apple guilty of PRICE FIXING e-books

In article , Mayayana
wrote:

Ever wonder why an e-books costs
almost as much as a printed book, ...


I've always wondered why people buy e-books in
the first place.


because ebooks are significantly better, that's why.

they weigh nothing, they are searchable, they can have audio and video
to enhance the book and more.

someone can easily have a large library of books in their pocket and
also buy more books at any time, anywhere, whether it's 2 in the
afternoon or 2 in the morning. try that with paper books.

ebooks *should* cost more, because they do more.

For a bit more one can actually own
the real book rather than leasing access to a transcript.


ebooks are real books, but in a newer and much more capable format.

and one does not 'lease access to a transcript' either. ebooks are sold
and owned. some are free.

(And that's not counting the initial, steep investment
to buy a reader.)


kindles start at $70 new, less for a used one. that's hardly a steep
price especially for someone who buys a lot of books.

some books cost that much just for one book, such as technical books,
reference books, textbooks, etc. plus there are a lot of free books
that can only be had in ebook form, which would cost money for the
paper copy.

also, readers can usually do more than just display books, such as
email, web browsing, games, etc., making it a very worthwhile purchase
for many people.

I imagine the market is probably mostly women who
buy cheap emotional drama novels to read in the
space of a few days on the way to work. Junk books
used as pacifiers, which are probably cheap and there's
no reason to keep a copy of them, anyway.


what you imagine and what is reality is as usual, two entirely
different things.

and even if all someone buys are junk books, what difference does that
make? it's their money and their choice. not yours.

Jobs had a winning strategy of going to the suppliers
and offering to fleece the customers together and split
the profits. ($1 for a song is also overpriced.)


really? how much should a song cost?

$1 is cheap enough that it's not worth pirating anymore, where someone
might get questionable quality and possible even malware.

it's comparable in price to a cd, and people can buy only the songs
they want rather than the whole cd and be stuck with crap they don't
want. that makes it *cheaper* than what came before. so much for being
overpriced.

But don't
forget about Amazon. Apple's loss is Amazon's gain, and
that may be even worse. The NYT ran a piece last week
about how Amazon is starting to charge higher prices for
books now that they've nearly killed off bookstores. It's
the same way that CVS/Walgreens have driven out
drugstores, Home Depot has killed off lumber yards, and
Walmart is killing off much of merchandise retailing.
People can't resist the bargain prices, but it's not long
before only one store remains, with limited selection, and
the prices go up. Amazon now threatens to own both kinds
of book market -- printed and "e". If you shop at Amazon
(or at Walmart) you're helping them to pull off their strategy
and will have no basis for complaint when they succeed.


that's exactly what apple wanted to prevent.
  #6  
Old July 12th 13, 04:41 PM posted to rec.photo.digital,comp.sys.mac.misc
Mitch Bujard[_2_]
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Posts: 28
Default Scumbag Apple guilty of PRICE FIXING e-books

On 2013-07-12 13:20:10 +0000, J. Clarke said:

The reader can pay for itself quickly--there's a lot of good stuff out
there that is public-domain--Caesar and Plato and Aristotle and the rest
for example, and Shakespeare, and Verne, Dickens, Austen, Dumas, etc.
Once one has the reader, one quickly discovers the convenience aspect--I
have the whole of the Harvard Classics in my pocket for example.


I do a lot of personal research and appreciate very much the fact that
public domain litterature is now available for free through the
Internet. I have use Amazon's Kindle for that, albeit I have to convert
from epub to mobi. It was not always that easy. I now use
http://ebook.online-convert.com/convert-to-mobi

Other onlive converters did not work well at all with accented
characters such as Jules Verne French copy.

The issue of pay-for ebooks, apart from the recent sentencing of Apple,
is one of what does the publisher and distributor do for the reader, as
well as the author. If a publisher no longer provides paper and ink, he
should still provide visibility to the author, and advice to the
reader. After all, pubishing houses have for quite a while seved a
scouts in discovering new talents and let the readers experience them,
whithout undue hassle. Now, what if an excellent author sefl-publishes
a very good litterature on his personal page ? Would it be so easy to
find the needle in the haystack without the help of Amazon, Crown
Books, Penguin or -- Apple -- ?

Granted, prices have to fall. But free everywhere would kill certains
aspects of service that are useful.

Mitch
http://www.FontMenu.com
---
Life isn't about waiting for the storm to pass...
It's about learning to dance in the rain.
- Vivian Greene

  #7  
Old July 12th 13, 04:52 PM posted to rec.photo.digital
Mitch Bujard[_2_]
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Posts: 28
Default Scumbag Apple guilty of PRICE FIXING e-books

On 2013-07-12 15:16:22 +0000, nospam said:

In article , Mayayana
wrote:
For a bit more one can actually own
the real book rather than leasing access to a transcript.


ebooks are real books, but in a newer and much more capable format.

and one does not 'lease access to a transcript' either. ebooks are sold
and owned. some are free.


I am an adept of ebooks, and yet, there are occasion when I rather take
a paperback and not a reader. That is when I go read sitting on a bench
at the park. A bum will never bother me to still the paperback, when he
could bother me for the reader. Same thing when I go camping : a
paperback will not require batteries, or run out of power.

That said, I recently installed Aldiko reader on my phone, and now
often enjoy a good book while waiting in line. I would not have done so
with the paperback I left at home

Mitch
http://www.FontMenu.com
---
Be resolute in your goals, but flexible in your tactics.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

  #8  
Old July 12th 13, 05:27 PM posted to rec.photo.digital
Douglas Johnson[_2_]
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Posts: 107
Default Scumbag Apple guilty of PRICE FIXING e-books

nospam wrote:

In article , Mayayana


For a bit more one can actually own
the real book rather than leasing access to a transcript.


ebooks are real books, but in a newer and much more capable format.

and one does not 'lease access to a transcript' either. ebooks are sold
and owned. some are free.


Sometimes. But most purchased ebooks are licensed, not sold. You can loan,
rent, or sell a book without restriction. To do so with an ebook requires the
licensor to approve.

Amazon, for example, can even take away your ability to read an ebook. See
http://www.forbes.com/sites/suwcharm...ed-not-bought/

or http://tinyurl.com/kumym6b

That is a bit of an extreme case, but it's real.

-- Doug
  #9  
Old July 12th 13, 05:47 PM posted to rec.photo.digital
nospam
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 24,165
Default Scumbag Apple guilty of PRICE FIXING e-books

In article , Douglas
Johnson wrote:

For a bit more one can actually own
the real book rather than leasing access to a transcript.


ebooks are real books, but in a newer and much more capable format.

and one does not 'lease access to a transcript' either. ebooks are sold
and owned. some are free.


Sometimes. But most purchased ebooks are licensed, not sold.


some are, some aren't.

keep in mind that apple's plan was for owning, not 'leasing', which is
yet another detail for those who cheer apple losing the lawsuit are
conveniently forgetting.

You can loan,
rent, or sell a book without restriction. To do so with an ebook requires
the licensor to approve.


nope. ebooks can be loaned whenever the user wants, and it blocks the
loaner from reading it until the loanee returns it, just like a paper
book.

libraries loan ebooks and you don't even have to leave your house to
borrow one.

this is the future, but as usual, people hate change.

Amazon, for example, can even take away your ability to read an ebook. See

http://www.forbes.com/sites/suwcharm...-ebooks-are-bo
rrowed-not-bought/

or http://tinyurl.com/kumym6b

That is a bit of an extreme case, but it's real.


very extreme and not how things are normally.

amazon saw what looked like fraud, with a kindle bought in the uk and
using a norwegian credit card. they made mistakes in how they handled
it and ultimately resolved the issue.

to claim that's how things are always going to be is just fear
mongering.
  #10  
Old July 12th 13, 05:47 PM posted to rec.photo.digital
nospam
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 24,165
Default Scumbag Apple guilty of PRICE FIXING e-books

In article , Mitch Bujard
wrote:

I am an adept of ebooks, and yet, there are occasion when I rather take
a paperback and not a reader. That is when I go read sitting on a bench
at the park. A bum will never bother me to still the paperback, when he
could bother me for the reader. Same thing when I go camping : a
paperback will not require batteries, or run out of power.


kindles last for weeks on a charge. battery life is not a concern.

worst case, charge it in the car that you drove to the campsite.

That said, I recently installed Aldiko reader on my phone, and now
often enjoy a good book while waiting in line. I would not have done so
with the paperback I left at home


yep.
 




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