[Thanks to TCGirl]
Are E-Books Worth the Money?, WSJ article.
A bit funny, that article, the author holds it as an advantage for some ebook readers that they don't have any wifi or 3G connection, because "That means fewer impulse purchases".
But he has some interesting points, and he mentions one statistic which made me sit up:
While e-books are still in an early stage—the Association of American Publishers says that so far this year they account for 8% of consumer books, compared to just 3% in 2009—the growth rate is dramatic. (This is one of the problems besetting Barnes & Noble, which has just announced a quarterly loss following a decline in sales of traditional books.)
That is amazing. Up from three to eight percent in one year! Profits are much bigger on ebooks than paperbooks, and as sales rise, Amazon and others will push the devices like crazy, because it's now or never to grab for market domination. I think it's possible that in a year, you can buy a Kindle for $50, and a smaller iPad or iPad-like device for $200.
It is starting. Remember CDs? Buying any this year? I bought maybe three CDs last year, and those were only the ones I could not find on iTunes or even over bittorrent.
All the points in the article are well taken. However I find a need to annotate a particular verse or phrase that strikes me. Books on paper lend themselves good for that purpose. I know this can be done with an ebook, but there is a certain feeling I get about committing written word to pages of a real book.
ReplyDeleteI am older, so please forgive me.
For the latest book release of Steig Erikson the eBook does fine. The price point of eBooks of the popular variety does seem a bit like usury.
The market will shift that, but dedicated eBook readers may have to endure and pony up for a while.
Steve