Sony eBook Reader

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Sony eBook Reader

I keep walking through the bookshop Waterstones and keep getting my attention distracted by the Sony eBook Reader that they are selling in their stores now. I’m not put off by the £200.00 price tag, although many people will, what I am not understanding is the price of the ebooks.

Lets take a look at Richard Bransons new book – Business Stripped Bare. The price of the hardback book is currently £10.00 as it’s on special offer.

The price of the ebook - £16!

Ok this may be a bad example as the hardback book is on special offer, but the RRP price of the ebook is exactly the same as the hardback book.

1 more example.

Second bounce of the ball (hardback) : £13.99

Second bounce of the ball (paperback) : £6.69

Second bounce of the ball ebook : £14.40

So although there are no storage, transport, shelf or shop staff costs for ebooks, you actually have to pay more for them!!!

Ridiculous! If the ebooks were half the price of the paper books I’d buy one without thinking but while the ebook prices are this way they can *%$* off!

Print | posted on Friday, November 28, 2008 9:35 PM |

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# re: Sony eBook Reader

the answer is to *not* use the waterstones store and use the sony ebook store or others instead. Every book is at least 30% cheaper than the printed copy if not more.

Mind you I wouldn't buy a 505 today as the 700 is about to be launched in the US.

Plus your cost argument is out of kilter - beleive it or not the production cost of a book is not so much the physical and transport stuff - this is a myth - the payment to publishers and authors is the significant portion of the resale price of a novel or other popular book.

However, the problem here is ripoff britian. and the waterstones store is one of the worst examples. Branson's book BTW is pretty lame so I wouldn't bother - just wait till it shows up in a charity store for a couple of quid.

11/28/2008 10:29 PM | Spence

# re: Sony eBook Reader

Something I've muttered about a lot.

Amazon's Kindle device (only available in the US still (?)) mostly has the same problem. Look at most SharePoint books there and they want the same amount (if not more) than they want for the real thing.

There is one glowing exception. My book is selling for

List: 29.99

Amazon: 19.79

Kindle: 9.99

Now in that case I don't know whether to be happy (increased sales to Kindle users perhaps) or sad (half royalties no doubt) !

P.S. The publisher's web site also sells a PDF version. If memory serves me right that's about halfway between the real book's List price and the Amazon price.

11/29/2008 8:34 AM | Mike Walsh

# re: Sony eBook Reader

I keep seeing these as well...I'm wondering if they are worth it. Here we go buying books, then we buy ebooks so that we don't have to carry books, then we go and buy a device so that the pages in our ebooks look like real books again.

Space saving +1. Is it worth the cost of the device...I'm not so sure. Seems like you could buy a pretty cheap laptop for the same price...

12/1/2008 4:44 AM | Rob Foster

# re: Sony eBook Reader

I have a laptop and many ebooks and reading files, but to read them on a laptop? besides the shape of a laptop is good for movies or multimedia, but not for ebooks. And then there is battery life... I think a ebook reader is what I was waiting for. It will bring back reading in my life, without carrying the heavy weight of books...

12/21/2008 7:11 AM | Jack

# re: Sony eBook Reader

Beware,

Sony tell me that you cannot buy from an ebook store without an IP address from the country that store is based in, the websie will not allow you access.

Is there a Sony ebook website for the UK or are we stuck with Waterstones?

This will be a big issue if you try to buy a 700 from the US as you will have to be in the US to buy books for it (according to SonyStyle)

1/28/2009 6:53 PM | Andy Potts

# re: Sony eBook Reader

If its only the IP address thats checked then you can get around this by using web proxy sites. However, I'm not entirely sure I would want to be using my credit card over a web proxy.

2/12/2009 1:31 PM | Mark

# re: Sony eBook Reader

With over 25,000 ebooks available free and legal at ProjectGutenberg.com, (everything more than 50 yrs old), and a whole heap of new books also available free, (e.g. see Baen free Library), the cost of reading has fallen drastically. Baen also sell their newer stuff from between 5 to 15 dollars so its way under paerback price. Sony's 505 is great to read on
. Happy reading.

3/4/2009 7:18 PM | Warren

# re: Sony eBook Reader

The site seems to be working quite well! But personally I find http://www.ebook-search-queen.com/ more easy to use with more useful options. It's a matter of personal taste, of course

6/25/2009 4:02 PM | pep

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