IZE, a DOS-era information manager, has long since drifted off to The Great Hard Drive in the Sky. Do you know of anyone using it? I don’t. Has someone “liberated” it as warez?
Some 18 years ago I wrote IZE Examined, a related software guide published by Dow Jones Irwin. I mangled Mark Twain’s best creations and told how Huck Finn used IZE to fend off a corporate takeover by the evil Tom Sawyer. Other than that, IZE Examined was nothing special.
Now here’s the mystery of the day. Why is IZE Examined selling used for $216.64 via the Barnes and Noble and Amazon sites? Is it simply because it’s now a rare book? Also, what’s your take on this from an e-book or library perspective? As far as I know, IZE Examined appeared just as a trade paperback.
At any rate, as a booster of free and low-cost knowledge, I’m both amused and appalled by the ironies here.
I don’t think that libraries, public or research, retain or collect textbooks or software manuals. So a very long tail may account for the interest in a remaining copy. Just as interesting is the prospect of selling an e-book as recorded to antique media. The possibility of publisher sales of an electronic format are better, but would the long tail market prefer paper or screen output? And there is also the question of costing twenty years of archival migrations and storage associated with an electronic file.
Correction: the used book is not ‘selling’ for $216+, it is being offered for sale at that price. Somebody has two copies, and has put this ridiculously high price tag on it, who knows why?
Anybody who is running ize presumably has been doing so for awhile, so would they need the manual? Well, it might be good for a museum of old computers.
Remember the ‘I am rich’ iPhone app?
http://used.addall.com/
If you check on Addall, a book price comparison site, a seller called Wonder Book shows it at both $2.99 and $216.64. If you click on the Buy It link for Amazon, it’s actually Wonder Book again, and it’s one of the sellers on Half.com.
I wonder if maybe they entered their price in error at one point, corrected it ro $2.99 in the Biblio database, but the original listing is still hanging around on Amazon and Half.com. It’s possible they did a bulk upload of titles and something went wrong. Not that your book shouldn’t be worth $216, though. 😉
This is actually quite common for books that don’t sell very many copies. A lot of the “used and new” book dealers will load absolutely EVERYTHING onto their webstores and price the oddballs really high. They don’t actually have one in stock, though. The theory seems to be, if someone is willing to pay that price, they’ll go FIND a copy in one of the usual places (ABEbooks’ backlist, a used books dealers’ exchange, or the former publishers’ warehouse — there are often a few old returns hanging out in odd corners.)
FWIW
Pond and Gary and Marion…
P: Lol. But, hey, check out the first def in the Wiktionary:
The “agree” might be in the form of the specified price in the ads.
G (and others): Do you or anyone else know of other ridiculously priced old software guides? By the way, the publisher holds the copyright, so if there actually were to be an e-book, that would be in the hands of others. I got more money for giving away all rights, which turned out to be a smart choice since IZE was not actually a WordStar in popularity.
M: Just saw your helpful comments, and of course you of all people are qualified to offer them. So it would seem this is hardly an unusual situation, just as I suspected. And you actually have mentioned the “Why.”
All: Damn! I’ve probably kept only two or three copies.
Thanks,
David
(Reply updated to respond to Marion)
You know who pays $200 for old software manuals? Helpdesk operators where those copies normally are shared with a dusin techsupport professionals and a couple of thousand users because somewhere some semi big corporation still depend on that old stuff to keep the business running.
And of ccause nostalgic dotCOM millinaries.
Not a software guide, but I have two copies of Ted Nelson’s “Computer Lib”. One is the original format (First Edition, but not first print unfortunately) and the other is published by Microsoft Press (it was one of their first publications). Both were picked up for $1 at book fairs; I strongly suspect they may have been thrown out if I hadn’t bought them.
Not currently listed on Amazon, but last time I saw it there, several copies were offered at prices between $200 to $400 by several sellers.
It doesn’t take long for computer memorabilia to become of interest to collectors.
As those who have seen it will probably agree, “Computer Lib” would be hard to appreciate as an e-book.
Before we all start insuring our old manuals as collectibles, remember that it’s pretty unusual for those listings to generate a sale.
They’re generally NOT the “market value” of the item listed. They’re what the used book dealer will charge you for the work of finding one, plus the actual market value. Usually the work of finding one is priced at at least a couple of hundred dollars.
Oh, David, that’s the first time I have thought of that book in what, 20 years? As the acquisitions editor, I am so proud to see copies floating around the Internet.
Speaking of floating, wasn’t that book the reason we took you kayaking? Or are you trying to forget that, um experience?
Why, Susan, I was almost tempted to notify you. Actually I had a great kayaking trip even with the sunburn, which was not your fault. Happiest of New Years. David