With e-books still in major trouble, people on the eBook Community list are looking for explanations. Some see hardware as the problem. Others blame high prices and lack of availability of big-name titles. I say it’s a mix of the DRM mess, the Tower of eBabel, other complexities, high prices, some big commercial titles’ being AWOL from e-bookdom, and less-than-perfect hardware. Luckily screens and other parts should get much better in time.
Reminder: The industry is a fast-grower, but is still a major underperformer compared to preductions–with less than $50 million in annual global sales, compared to the tens of billions of dollars of p-book sales. And the possible troubles of eBookAd could be just one more example why the hype is so wrong.
For me, in order of most important to least:
1) eBooks cost too much compared to p-books – you cannot convince me that the legitimate costs involved in producing and delivering an eBook are at or near the same levels as those to produce and distribute printed books.
2) DRM issues – it is just too damn hard to move eBooks around, plus, if the DRM-provider disappears, my eBooks are inaccessible.
3) Reading experience – I just love the feel of a real book and being able to flick through quickly to find what I am after.
When the cost is lowered to more reasonable levels, I would be more willing to put up with the DRM hassles and (IMHO) reduced reading experience.
Thanks for your comments, Arb. It’s hard to say exactly what is Cause Number One, but those high prices don’t help. I can buy a used p-book for a fraction of the price of a new e-book–and really own it. – David