ebook pricing is ridiculous

I’m still really enjoying my Sony PRS-300. It’s a good piece of hardware and reading on it is pretty pleasant. I’ve been reading mostly free material, much of which is old stuff in the public domain. I’ve also read two Stephen King books that I bootlegged.

I feel bad about that. I would like to pay for the book. I’m not sure how much I’d pay. I’d like to pay less than the book costs on the bookshelf, but I guess I might be willing to pay the same. After all, I end up with the same book. I can’t write on the pages, but it also won’t clutter up my house.

Unfortunately, Sony’s incredibly horrible online bookstore seems to charge a highly discounted version of the hardcover price.

Here are some comparisons:

Book           | Sony List | Sony  | Mass Market
               | Price     | Price | Paperback
---------------+-----------+-------+-------------
Carrie         | $32.50    | $13   | $8
'Salem's Lot   | $35       | $13   | $8
The Shining    | $35       | $13   | $8
The Stand      | $50       | $35   | $9
From a Buick 8 | $8        | $8    | $8
Gunslinger     | $8        | $8    | $8

Quite a few books have prices that match up. Plenty of others don’t. I wish these prices would get in line. I also wish that I could buy them in my web browser. Sony’s software for using their store is absolutely abysmal.

Written on October 7, 2009
🏷 books
🏷 ebook