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Books are not too expensive

millersbookreview.com

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Re: Books are not too expensive

#41

Post by unmole »

rtpg wrote: post #32

Japan and France to me stand out as places where pop culture-y books are really fairly priced. And both of these are places where there are established printing formats that don't try to make the books huge. Walking around in an Australian bookstore at least I am still a bit flabbergasted by how everything is printed to be huge, everything a slightly different size, lots of paperbacks with glossy covers etc. Not that…

> lots of paperbacks with glossy covers etc.

Glossy cover lamination is actually cheaper than matte lamination.

If you meant more fancier finishing like spot UV or foil-stamping, ignore what I said.

Re: Books are not too expensive

#42

Post by hahajk »

vhanda wrote: post #4

The bigger problem for me is buying Ebooks without DRM, which are cheaper than the paperback. I see no reason why I should be paying the same (or often more) than the paperback version. Just let me buy the ebook and let me own it. Right now, after pirating it, I have to find the author's patreon / something and contribute some money that way. It shouldn't be this hard to give someone money.

> (or often more) than the paperback

Not an expert but my guess is that price is supply and demand. And oversupply of physical books will drive the price down since it costs money to warehouse them. There cannot be an oversupply of ebooks.

Re: Books are not too expensive

#43

Post by ks2048 »

I agree books, in general, aren't too expensive. But, I'm surprised at the variance in book prices. Some great technical books are $30, others $65. Of course, textbooks take that to the extreme.

Also, just do softcover or hardcover - or let use choose either from the publish date. Why do I have to wait for a softcover?

Re: Books are not too expensive

#44

Post by odo1242 »

WaitWaitWha wrote: post #36

To be fair, this article is partially true. Now, allow me to pour some gasoline/petrol/benzine around this thread. Have you purchased a college course required book recently? There is a market monopoly by Pearson, Wiley,Cengage, and McGraw. Buy the eBook, or the actual book with a CD in the back, but cannot access the pictures because the code can be use only once ! (often the codes do not work at all) Updated every…

I had one professor in college who made most of their money by forcing students to buy his book (it was an ebook so it couldn’t be resold, and also super expensive, and the class homework was all linked to from the book itself). The class was also somewhat useless, which lead to a lot of students surmising that the professor’s deal was basically just = free A / course requirement lol

Re: Books are not too expensive

#45

Post by handedness »

WaitWaitWha wrote: post #36

To be fair, this article is partially true. Now, allow me to pour some gasoline/petrol/benzine around this thread. Have you purchased a college course required book recently? There is a market monopoly by Pearson, Wiley,Cengage, and McGraw. Buy the eBook, or the actual book with a CD in the back, but cannot access the pictures because the code can be use only once ! (often the codes do not work at all) Updated every…

The central thesis of the article is this:

> Don’t blame books for being too expensive. Everything else is more expensive, and that’s why you can’t afford books.

College textbook pricing is a function of the aforementioned rate of increase of everything else becoming more expensive, not a function of the cost of books increasing generally. They are, the author argues, decreasing, unless you introduce external distorting factors.

Re: Books are not too expensive

#46

Post by Justin4Cerid »

ks2048 wrote: post #43

I agree books, in general, aren't too expensive. But, I'm surprised at the variance in book prices. Some great technical books are $30, others $65. Of course, textbooks take that to the extreme. Also, just do softcover or hardcover - or let use choose either from the publish date. Why do I have to wait for a softcover?

Textbooks are the real killer; soaking of a captive audience that has to buy what the professor/school requires (often after making their own deals with the publishers). It's especially annoying when school adds its own random books to the program.

Re: Books are not too expensive

#47

Post by Brajeshwar »

A_D_E_P_T wrote: post #5

At some point you just have to move to Ebooks. It's way cheaper (usually ~6x cheaper) and it's much more convenient, as you always have your entire library with you. Sometimes even in duplicate, i.e. on more than one device at the same time, in the same place. I was very reluctant to make the move at first, as I love everything about physical books -- their feel, the way they smell, the cover art -- but I was accumul…

During its early days (2009), an investor showed me a white Kindle reading a book. This was India, long before Amazon was even introduced to our country. I decided to get mine a few years later. I decided to move bag and baggage to ebooks. After some time, I got one for my daughter too. Then the Kindle Oasis was, to me, one of the best ways to read books.

But I realize that I have a better and cozier feeling holding a physical book to read. As I get older, that also means I cannot deal with Paperbacks (especially in India where the quality is as bad as it gets). Buying only Hardcovers makes me choose my books wisely and feel immensely satisfied reading books.

Unfortunately, with all the things happening with Amazon—Kindle, I have done away with Kindle and sold them except for a Paperwhite that I want as my gadget/device museum piece.

I have too many books that I want to get back to, so I might just keep one but looks like Amazon is not making it easy to archive books.

Now, I’m on a lookout for an Open Source but well designed eBook Reader, akin to the Framework computers but for ebooks. I would like to still keep the physical to ebook ratio to a good number; for every 5 ebooks, I should have at-least 2 physical ones.

Re: Books are not too expensive

#48

Post by calvinmorrison »

solomonb wrote: post #39

When I was a child my parents told me they would always buy me a book no matter what. They would take me to bookstores of all stripes and let me wander. I would spend hours walking the sections looking at whatever caught my eye. Then I would pick out a couple to take home and read. This was how I discovered the world. I think this had a bigger impact on my education then anything else in my childhood and I owe all bo…

Alternatively I visit a book store every 5 or 7 years when we visit relatives. It's a big old barn of a used bookstore. I remember quite clearly in high school seeing a specific chess book, for $20! When I returned many years later it was still there. I will never, ever, learn all the opening moves to the italian defense but, i know the book is there if i ever need it.

Re: Books are not too expensive

#49

Post by Justin4Cerid »

jwrallie wrote: post #31
mananaysiempre wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> At some point you just have to move to Ebooks. When I can get a godsdamned file and view it on whatever I want with whatever program I want, sure. But I usually can’t.

People should never buy an ebook which they cannot make a copy that is readable anywhere, extra steps required or not. There are so many disadvantages to even list.

an ebook that's yours to download is one thing, an ebook that you lose access to once your subscription ends is another. vendors love locking you into a platform and having you "buy" content that's never really yours.
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