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12/15/09
12/15/09
Then again, if the managers I used to work for are any indication....
Roll out the welcome mat. Here comes the Wal-Mart literal drive-thru window!
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[www.walmart.com]
The new service includes everything on walmart.com, which now has a beta section for 'grocery' and 'health and beauty'. I believe that covers everything in my comment. As for paying extra, I don't see that anywhere. I assume you just made it up.
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Still unless you don't have to go far to do these pick ups and you still get competitive online pricing I can't see it taking off.
12/15/09
RoadsideAmerica.com
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12/09/09
No publication or production costs, no shipping, no wholesale market. Straight from the publisher to the reader.
To add to that, the reader is also getting a lot less. You can't collect or sell a rare e-book, you can't lend an e-book to a friend, you can't rent an ebook for free from a library, you can't finish reading it and then sell it at a garage sale.
The great thing about physical media is that I have more freedom of doing what I want when I'm done with it or I'm sick of it. I can hand down or sell CDs, Movies, books. Or from the other perspective, I can buy used or receive a hand-me-down. Can't do that (legally) with iTunes.
To me, MP3/e-book downloads have always been like the pay-per-view business model, except you're paying full price.
12/09/09
12/09/09
Totally agree that the re-sale or transfer potential is the nail in the coffin for their model. It turns an "own it" business model into strictly a "rent it" model, and that's unacceptable to me.
Unless this gets fixed, the library model is our only hope...
12/09/09
12/10/09
#ebooks
12/10/09
If that's the case, then, why buy it? Why be married to a copy of a book you're only going to read once, maybe twice? I understand, I can eat my words, because I could say the same thing about libraries vs. physical books. But physical books still have much, much more value, as far as saving, collecting, sharing, putting on a shelf to make people think you're intellectual.
And to all, I do take back the full price comment, I do know it's a reduced price, but you're still "paying" for ownership when you download it from amazon. I'd rather pay $2.99 to read it once and have it expire after 2 months, then pay $10 and be married to a piece of information for the rest of my life. When I say it's like Pay per view except you're paying full price, this is what I mean. They did reduce the cost, since you're eliminating ink and paper, but you're still 'paying to own' something you can never really 'own.'
12/10/09
While we're talking about iTunes and other online music stores, it seems to me that even with variable pricing, the cost of downloading music IS the same as purchasing the CD.
12/09/09
I understand; music is already digitized, so no one had to do any extra work to crank out a digital copy. Books are paper, and they take work to digitize. There should, however, be some sort of acknowledgement that I own the print copy already, like a reduced-price digital version.
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If more publishers did this, or provided a code you could use to download the kindle or ereader version, I would actually buy a lot more physical books, because I like to read ebooks on the go, but I also like having the hard copy for posterity.
12/09/09
12/09/09
Any eBook reader can display any number of text formats though, if you can provide them.
On that note, eBook readers do put public domain works on the same standing as published novels. It's very nice to get copies of all the classics for free, instead of having to pay a publisher for printing a hard copy.
12/09/09
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With two cameras, even if you get them and keep them well aligned, you need something like clear glass to cover and flatten them and good lighting that will not be off color in rendering (i.e. not incandescent or flourescent...), and then you end up with file numbering that's in two groups and no means to smoothly put it all together.
Best $35 I ever spent.
12/09/09
12/11/09
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12/09/09
1- Twilight
2- Harry Potter
3- whatever nonsense Oprah's pushing down the gullets of middle-aged housewives
That's it.
I'd also add that you can argue they are treating e-books like paperbacks.
12/09/09
Also: Dan Brown, the Michael Bay of authors. Actually that is too kind. He is more like the Uwe Boll of authors.
12/09/09
I for one think we should just call Danny boy's formula the "Da Vinci Code".
/SPLAT
That was the sound of my pathetic pun falling flat on its face.
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12/09/09
Shoot me for being a shallow sellout all you want but I knew what I was getting into. And yes by pretty I meant Miss Fox, not just the FX.
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I feel authors tend to get shafted by publishers even harder than musicians by record labels. On the average book that is simply released by a publisher with no marketing push, signing tour, etc. you are lucky to get a 100k copy printing, and even luckier if you manage to sell all of those. The ability to self publish on Amazon, iTunes, and other stores will be a great boost to the financial return that authors see. You don't get advances, and zero marketing (how many books actually get marketing??) but at least you are getting a better cut.