For example, I have talked to a particular author before through email but have to admit have never truly read one of her books. So I thought when I make me decision one of my first books could be one of her's.
I don't mind if B&N doesn't match Amazon's prices in every case -- but right now, eBook prices for many titles are 9.99 -- even when the title in question is available in mass market paperback for 6.99 or 7.99. I'm willing to pay 6.99 or 7.99 for an ebook that I can loan -- as opposed to paying .70 to $1 less after Amazon's discount -- but to pay $2 or $3 more for the eBook version? That's something that I'm reluctant to do.
I agree about matching prices. B&N is a bookstore. It is not a department store, chain store, etc. They are booksellers. Amazon, Target, Walmart, etc., can get away with lowering prices on books because they make it up on other items in their stores. Look at the news about what is going on right now about the pricing wars for books between those other sellers.
As for price difference between paperback and ebook, I agree that the ebook should be at the same price, if not lower, than the paperback version. Or alternatively, let me use my membership for the ebooks. As I spend over $500 a year on books, the membership pays for itself and I'd prefer to keep it.
I alreadt canceled my order. I'm goining to wait until it comes out and I can see it in person. If they don't get close to amazons pricing then I will get the Kindle2(or maybe the 3 will be out by then).
I have preordered the Nook and I also am seriously considering cancelling the pre-order secondary to the uncompetitive Ebook prices of B&N. Hopefully someone of significance is reading this thread and will respond positively. If the current Ebook price structure remains as is, I will most likely cancel, period. I could get my Ebooks from other sources for much less and adapt them for use on the Nook, but then I would lose the advantage of the wireless capability, etc. It would not be worth it.
and #5. You can't use a gift card for eBooks. So if you get the Nook figuring you can always ask for the cards as gifts, you are stuck with a card you can only use on other B&N items.
Yeah, I would love to hear from an admin about this extremely unnerving situation. Sounds to me as if B&N is placing their faith in sales on the more advanced technology of the unit to drive sales. However, when one actually looks at the differences and really thinks about the usefullness of certain features, it begins to pale. One must remember that the main purpose of this unit is to read. Now when you consider the ongoing costs of the ebooks being quite a bit more expensive, in some cases almost 50%, than Amazon ebook prices, the technology differences just aren't worth the intrinsic cost increase.
For a heavy reader it would not be too long before the ebook cost differences add up to the price of the unit itself!
I don't know about availability - I checked all the books for my book club for the year and there were at least 2 that were not avaiable from Barnes and Noble that I could get at Amazon.
10-22-200906:01 PM- last edited on10-22-200906:01 PM
I commented earlier but decided to write this follow-up post regarding some of the price/selection differences seen between Amazon and BN. These are some of the books I am interested in:
(Author, Title, BN Price, Amazon Price)
Margaret Atwood, Year Of The Flood, $9.99, $9.99
Margaret Atwood, Moral Disorder, $19.16, $8.93
Margaret Atwood, The Handmaids Tale, Not available, $3.95
Margaret Atwood, Oryx And Crake, $11.96, $9.99
Margaret Atwood, The Blind Assasin, Not Available, $9.99
P. D. James, The Private Patient, $16.76, $9.99
P. D. James, The Lighthouse, $11.16, $9.99
How can they be so expensive, and also be a publisher but not even carry literary books that Amazon carries? Oh well. They will probably lose my business for the Kindle.
I'm glad to see I'm not the only person who is concerned about the price of ebooks. In general I think they are all too high, but Amazon comes closest to my sweet spot.
One thing to keep in mind in this discussion, I think, is that Amazon's prices are lower because they deal in higher volumes. Also I read somewhere that they may be taking a loss on all ebooks. But I don't have a cite for that.
B&N, having smaller ebook sales than Amazon, simply can't afford to lower their prices the way Amazon can at this time. That's not to say I don't hope they do lower prices, because I do. I'm very seriously considering the Nook to replace my Sony PRS505, but what concerns me more is the continued insistence of the publishers that the retailers infect their products with incompatible DRM schemes.
All those free books available on the Nook? They are available for free for ANY digital reader including the Kindle. I was thinking about getting the Nook as my second digital book so compared my library on Kindle to see what they would be on B&N..... Whoppin big difference. $2 to $4 dollars difference on the books I had purchased at Amazon. Since I bought it to read on, that is the bottom line for me. How much is it going to cost me for my books.
I totally agree with you about the prices needing to come down on the ebooks to be competitive with Amazon. I have the Kindle II and was going to order a second one. When I saw the Nook I thought I would maybe get it instead as it had a couple of features I liked. The last check I needed to do was the price on the books so I compared them to what I had on my Kindle. There was quite a difference. Since the only reason I even got a digital reader in the first place was so that i could carry a lot of books in my purse without the weight of the actuall books it all comes down to the prices of the ebooks themselves. So it will be another Kindle for me if they don't come down in their ebook prices soon.
You mentioned you thought the Kindle looked too fragile...I have dropped mine a couple of times. The last was in the bathroom a few days ago. I had it sort of wrapped up in a shirt and forgot about it being there. I picked up the shirt and my Kindle came sliding out and hit the tile floor. I held my breath, picked it up and turned it on and it was just fine and still is. I do have it in one of the leather covers but it had opened up since it doesn't have anything to hold it closed. I will be replacing it with one that does secure though. It is just common sense to protect items such as this that cost that much. I got mine when the second version first came out this year so didn't benefit from the price drops that have occured since.
Well, I hope for those of us considering buying one, that they will rethink their pricing on the ebooks...
I live in Washington State and because Amazon's corporate headquarters are in Washington, we have to pay Sales Tax on all amazon purchases - including eBooks and MP3 downloads as Washington considers the electronic delivery of media a taxable event. I don't know if Barnes & Noble charges tax as I've never bought an eBook from them.
I agree with the general consensus that the eBook prices are too high.
I don't care if they out-compete Amazon, just compete with them. I have a preorder but I may cancel it if I don't hear any good news from bn about trying to compete on price.
I know this is mostly a repetition of concerns already expressed but I'd like to add my voice to the record on the following:
1. $9.99 is acceptable for new books only available in hardcover or higher-priced trace paperback, with the occasional exceptions based on competition. If the same book is on sale in other places for 6.99, occassionaly we should see the same at b&n. I don't expect b&n to match prices with Amazon in every instance, but it would be nice if there was healthy competition.
2. It should never be more expensive to buy the paper version instead of the eBook version, especially paperback novels that sell for $6.99 or $7.99, should never be $9.99 in eBook format. All eBooks should be either less, or at the very least and only under certain circumstances, the same price as the paper version.
3. Do something with the member discounts and eBooks - otherwise it is of no use to someone who primarily uses an eReader. The exact solution isn't as important as making the customer feel they are getting a good deal, their money's worth.
4. Title availability isn't as important to me, at least not until you don't have a book I'm specifically wanting and I have to go elsewhere. In that case, so long as it is in a format that is supported by the nook, it should not be crippled simply because I didn't buy it from B&N. I do not know how technically feasible this is but it seems like the customer shouldn't be punished because b&n doesn't have the book they want. My reading tastes are not so esoteric as to expect that books I want will not be available but you never know.
Having never purchase an ebook from B&N, do you have to pay sales tax on them as well? If so, that's another strike against the Nook. No tax with amazon.
I think that there will definitely be some kind of action in the ebook store before the nook launch.
They probably need to update the reader software on other client devices to support syncing furthest page read, annotations and other features.
I believe that I read somewhere that they are converting to epub downloads with the launch of the nook as well. That will be a major change for the store and maybe more content and better pricing will come along with that change.
I've wanted to get an eReader for a while. Saw the Kindle and didn't much like the look or the storage limitatioins. Saw the Nook and loved the fact that I could add 16GB of storage easily.
But looking at the price differences, if something doesn't change by launch I'll be buying a Kindle 2 on the launch date of Nook.
