My mom's been an avid reader her entire life, but with age and other complications her eyesight has been going downhill. So she's had to go from paperbacks to hardcovers to large print editions. With large print versions not always available (especially for paperback authors) and usually costing twice as much as the hardcover, about 8 months ago I thought it would be a great idea to pick her up a Kindle. At that point the majority of the authors she likes to read were available in the Canadian store (which I believe is the 2nd largest behind the US one), and with the readability and customizable font sizes it seemed a perfect fit.

So I bought her the large screen version and loaded it up with a bunch of books, and she absolutely loves it. It's made a huge improvement in her enjoyment of reading.

She finished the last book she had on it a couple days ago, so last night I was researching the list of books and authors she wanted me to look at. Of around 10 books that she was specifically interested in, only around 3 of them were available on Kindle, and one of them was priced at $18 when the hardcover only cost $14. And of the last 7 books she's bought, only 3 of them are still available.

What kind of garbage is this? Can't get what you want, and when you can it might cost more than the physical book? Since when does cutting down trees, shipping them, pulping them, making paper, shipping the paper, printing the book, cutting and binding the book, shipping the book to a warehouse, then shipping the book to the local store cost LESS than an electronic download?

I'm not imprsseed.

Possible that the issue is related to the iPad and other tablets showing up? I know some kindle users who swear by them but others have already jumped ship and they are now reading via their iPad or Android tablet.

Due to her eyes the eink is much less "straining" to read than a bright glowing screen.

Even with other reading devices available, there's no excluse for Amazon to not have the latest books, since that's their business, even if they have to sell them at the same price (which is probably the case with that stupidly expensive one).

I would love reading a back lit e-book at night rather than my too-bright iPad at night. Way less eye fatigue. That being said I hate the prices of books on them is way too expensive. Last year I looked for the authors I read, one book is all I found, and it was $18. I don't pay more than $7 for a paperback, and most of the time I get them for half that.

Until they get realistic with costs of books in digital format, I'll keep saying no thanks.

What's the most annoying is you know the author isn't getting paid more if you buy an ebook for $18 versus a hardcover for $13. It's just a huge profit center for the publisher, since the ebook has essentially zero production and distribution costs associated with it.

Ideally, the price should be the same as print editions, minus whatever physical costs are associated with making the print edition.

Pretty sure the cost of constructing a book is less than a buck.

I think the price of books is based almost completely on supply and demand.

unfortunately, that is the issue with DL. Everything is proprietary, and as things evolve everything rapidly becomes obsolete.

Now I don't know about Kindle, but my guess the price difference is because it is proprietary and so there is no competition, while the book might have been on special because Amazon needs to compete on prices with other stores. As for selection, look at HD-DVD or 3D BDs today or Netflix and DL, once something is dropping the selection is dropping even faster and because there are different proprietary systems sometimes some want to buy exclusivity in order to gain a foothold on the market.

Converting a text file to various formats takes no work, and it's not like these books are being offered at ANY price digitally on Kindle, so the only answer is someone is trying to create a monopoly by working out exclusive deals (and the publisher is sadly going along).

agree, but it is always that way, content sells HW and HW sells content, so exclusivity happens (and if one is big and the other is small it does not make sense to continue supporting the small one). You are also forgetting that formats exist to make money that is why Apple is so wealthy, they keep a large chunk of the 1$ tyou pay for the song because they can, I can't find the chart, but if I remember correctly the artist only gets 10 cents on the dollar or something like that. I don't think it is as simple as converting a text file to various formats.