Pricing of files vs books and discs.

[dreed]

In the recent article on this website, there was a click through to purchase and download a PDF that contained additional information about where to go to take photos around Teton National Park. It's price, $9.95. By comparison, at Yosemite National park in the Ansel Adams gallery, you can buy a small book for the same price and for the same purpose: a guide on how/where to take photos around Yosemite National Park. Looking on Amazon.com, I find (for example), this:

Photographers Guide Yosemite

When I saw the price for the PDF, my mind immediately jumped to having seen that book at Yosemite for the same price and compares. 1 PDF vs 1 book. The value of the PDF failed to register.

Undoubtedly I can see a shift to more electronic product being produced, but I can't help but wonder whether or not there's still lots of experimentation to do with understanding what the correct price for electronic goods is, especially when comparisons can still be made to physical ones.

[Richowens]

  You are not buying a computer file or a printed book, you are buying information. The question is simple, is the information equally valuable to you? Do you get as much value out of the Teton info as you get from the Yosemite info?

  Rich

[Rob C]

  You are not buying a computer file or a printed book, you are buying information. The question is simple, is the information equally valuable to you? Do you get as much value out of the Teton info as you get from the Yosemite info?

  Rich

Rich, that's plausible but rather simplistic; a book is for ever and, try as the electronic tribes might to deny this, the tactile qualities of a book will always be more rewarding than anything on a cold, impersonal screen.

Rob C 

[dturina]

Rich, that's plausible but rather simplistic; a book is for ever and, try as the electronic tribes might to deny this, the tactile qualities of a book will always be more rewarding than anything on a cold, impersonal screen.

Rob C 

Maybe, but trees that didn't die in the process of producing books are cheering for pdf.

As for usability, I could argue both ways; I can put a pdf on my phone and thus carry one item less on a hike, but a book won't fail to open when the batteries run out.

[Ben Rubinstein]

Given that there are no printing, publishing and distribution costs a pdf should be cheaper and that is reflected throughout the ebook industry.

[Rob C]

Given that there are no printing, publishing and distribution costs a pdf should be cheaper and that is reflected throughout the ebook industry.

This may or may not be true, Ben, I don't know, but at the end of the day the author(s) has the choice of pricing as he pleases, and that's his privilege and divine right. One must vote with one's feet or wallet, whatever strikes the mood at the moment of buying frenzy. Fortunately, I now suffer few frenzies, but can remember a time...

There's something that instinctively rubs my grain the wrong way with these apple/orange deal complaints; rather would I kick ass of those that sell things that are exactly the same - i.e. downloads for image manipulation programmes - at very different prices depending on the country where the innocent live. Now those are valid comparisons and points of pain!

Rob C

[PeterAit]

Maybe the PDF price is fair and the book price is a real steal.

[PierreVandevenne]

There's something that instinctively rubs my grain the wrong way with these apple/orange deal complaints; rather would I kick ass of those that sell things that are exactly the same - i.e. downloads for image manipulation programmes - at very different prices depending on the country where the innocent live. Now those are valid comparisons and points of pain!

I wonder which company that may be? Ah yes, the one that claims there is a justification in the different costs of doing business in different areas and that used to invoice everything from a certain European tax haven (now half broke) anyway, while providing tech support (essentially useless) from a certain crowded location on another continent.

I have voted with my wallet and stopped updating my 10 or so licenses for their products. But I took some pleasure going around their restrictions with a simple SSH tunnel located on a third continent the last time I upgraded.

Note: most of the kindle books I have purchased have been more expensive than their tree-based counterparts. It's a matter of convenience and immediate satisfaction I guess. And while I a a book lover (two libraries, wall to wall, in the house) I couldn't help notice the kindle was easier on my back when I moved last year...

[Eric Myrvaagnes]

The best current translation into English of Tolstoy's "Anna Karenina" is undoubtedly the one by Pevear and Volokhonsky (2004).
Amazon currently lists the paperback edition (which we have) for $11.56 (list price $17.00) and the Kindle edition for 99 cents (we have that, too).

Other translations old enough to be out of copyright cost various amounts for the printed book version and $0.00 for the Kindle version.

Interesting.

Eric

[dreed]

  You are not buying a computer file or a printed book, you are buying information. The question is simple, is the information equally valuable to you? Do you get as much value out of the Teton info as you get from the Yosemite info?

  Rich

I'll do my best to provide a summary of each (from memory):
$9.95 bought 10 extra "locations" (~$1/location) to shoot the Tetons from. If the free information was anything to go by, it is/was predominately about what's good at sunrise.
The $9.95 book on Yosemite covered not only locations, but features and seasons. Yosemite being Yosemite, sunrise is very difficult and sunset is challenging. Thus for the book to be worthwhile, it covered all manner of subjects without dwelling on the sunrise/sunset problem.

[Rob C]

I'll do my best to provide a summary of each (from memory):
$9.95 bought 10 extra "locations" (~$1/location) to shoot the Tetons from. If the free information was anything to go by, it is/was predominately about what's good at sunrise.
The $9.95 book on Yosemite covered not only locations, but features and seasons. Yosemite being Yosemite, sunrise is very difficult and sunset is challenging. Thus for the book to be worthwhile, it covered all manner of subjects without dwelling on the sunrise/sunset problem.

Ah the digital age... photography by numbers.

Rob C

[Riaan van Wyk]

Snip/.....the tactile qualities of a book will always be more rewarding than anything on a cold, impersonal screen.
Rob C

+1 Rob. Try as I might, reading is just not the same for me on a computer screen.

[Rob C]

+1 Rob. Try as I might, reading is just not the same for me on a computer screen.

And apart from anything else, there's nowhere to put the fancy bookmark!

;-)

Rob C

[William Birmingham]

It is handy to have a catalogue in digital format as it makes searching and referencing easier.

Having said that however I rather have a printed format when the book is well indexed.
No one can convince me otherwise, reading a book and putting pen to paper is more natural than using a PC.
That says a lot if you consider that I'm a machine programmer (and I use recycled paper for my scribbles).

If the book is sold at the same price for the same thing.. then take the book I'd say.
For the "save trees" idea (good principle) to really have punch the electronic version should be cheaper.
A cheaper price may actually encourage more to buy it rather then copying it from a friend.

That is my 2c.
-- Will

[Eric Myrvaagnes]

And apart from anything else, there's nowhere to put the fancy bookmark!

;-)

Rob C

Rob,

You simply glue it to your computer screen.   

Eric

[Ray]

Rich, that's plausible but rather simplistic; a book is for ever and, try as the electronic tribes might to deny this, the tactile qualities of a book will always be more rewarding than anything on a cold, impersonal screen.

Rob C 

Rob,
Did you know that the e-ink screens of the e-book readers are not transmissive like the screen of a computer monitor? They use no power, until you turn the page, and are just as easy on the eyes as the printed page.

It's true the e-book reader is not as tactile in the hands as a paper book, and therefore does not have the disadvantages of a tactile medium.
I bought my first e-book reader about a year ago when I was temporarily one-handed as a result of breaking my wrist in a fall. Have you ever tried reading a book and turning the pages with one hand?
I chose the Kindle DX because of its larger screen and higher resolution. I understand that some folks in the USA download the morning newspaper into their Kindle DX, and read it on the train to work.

The advantages of the e-book reader over the tactile, tree-consuming book, are so numerous and significant I would use the analogy of a modern DSLR compared with an old-fashioned film camera.
In fact, I think the advantages of the e-book reader may be greater than the scope of that analogy. You can change the font size to suit your eyesight, turn the book upside-down so the controls are on the left instead of the right, and eat a bag of chips whilst reading, turning the pages so easily with the clean left hand.

As for bookmarks; no need of them. The Kindle DX automatically resumes to the page you were last reading when you switched it off.

To use a cliche', this truly is the best invention since sliced bread. Do yourself a favour, Rob,  and make reading in your old age a hundred times easier. I assure you the operational manual for the Kindle DX is not even remotely as thick as the D700 manual. 

[dreed]

Ray, I'm glad to hear that you like using the Kindle but the question at hand is, what sort of prices are you willing to accept for electronic content?

If a best seller is on the shelves in hardback only at $30, would you pay $30 for an electronic copy? Or would you be expecting it for substantially less?

If the Wall Street Journal online subscription cost was the same as that for the printed edition of the New York Times and had a small fraction of the content, would you still buy the online version of the WSJ?

[Bryan Conner]

To use a cliche', this truly is the best invention since sliced bread. Do yourself a favour, Rob,  and make reading in your old age a hundred times easier.

I have always wondered....what was the best invention before sliced bread? 

[Farmer]

If a best seller is on the shelves in hardback only at $30, would you pay $30 for an electronic copy? Or would you be expecting it for substantially less?

Sure.  If I thought the content and convenience of electronic distirbution was worth $30-  It doesn't matter if someone else can get it cheaper or if it's available in another format for the same price or less or more.  If the offered content and delivery seems reasonable at the price, then it's reasonable at the price without reference to anything else.

If the Wall Street Journal online subscription cost was the same as that for the printed edition of the New York Times and had a small fraction of the content, would you still buy the online version of the WSJ?

Maybe, but there's a good chance I wouldn't find it to be acceptable value for the content if it, "had a small fraction of the content".

[tsjanik]

I have always wondered....what was the best invention before sliced bread? 

Likely bread itself and before that beer, without which there would have been no bread.