Over the past year or so, I’ve been reading blog posts expounding the virtues of ebooks and digital reading devices. In theory, it sounds like a great idea. I have stacks of print books taking up way too much space in my home; a portable reading device would allow me take a number of books on holiday without taking up half the room in my suitcase; it would be environmentally friendly. So when the Sony Reader launched in Switzerland in April 2009, I was more than ready to embrace the digital revolution.
Then reality hit. Apparently, the Sony Reader available here is language-specific. I could only read German books on the device. I called Sony Switzerland to make sure I’d understood this correctly, and they confirmed that my information was accurate. The Sony Reader is sold exclusively through bookstores and they insisted a certain software be used on the device to force customers to buy exclusively from them. Apparently, there are ways around the system, but who wants to fork out 449 CHF and end up with a poorly formatted ebook? No, thanks!
I then considered importing one from the UK. That idea lasted about two days when I discovered that many etailers were imposing geographical restrictions on the ebooks they sold. A cursory browse through Fictionwise showed me that over half the books on my To Buy list for May were unavailable to me in ebook form. Paper copies of these books were in stock at Amazon Germany. Needless to say, this deterred me from buying a Sony Reader altogether.
Upon reflection, I have to say it was the best decision, and not merely due to the fact that half the books I want to purchase are unavailable to me. Looking at the prices of ebooks and comparing them to what I pay for an average paperback at Amazon, I have to say WTF? Seriously. How can publishers justify charging more for an ebook than for a print copy? I’ve read the arguments given in the comments section after a recent post on ebook pricing at Smart Bitches, Trashy Books, but I remain unconvinced. Frankly, I don’t care what it costs publishers to produce ebooks. As a customer, I can only see what I’m NOT getting for my money. With DRM and other nonsense, I’m effectively paying more to have the right to read a book for however long the publisher chooses to allow me to do so. I don’t OWN a copy of the book, which is the fundamental difference between an ebook and the dead tree variety. I have books on my shelves which I’ve had since I was a kid. I can loan my books to friends and I can borrow ones in return. I can sell books which I no longer want, or give them to charity. I can’t do any of the above with an ebook.
While we’re on the subject of cost, what’s with charging the same price for an ebook as for a hardback book? I understand publishers don’t want customers buying the cheaper ebook version of a book which has just been released in hardback edition. But come on! The whole justification for charging more for a hardcover is that I get more as a customer: better quality paper in a more durable binding. How is the hardcover-price ebook any different from the paperback-price version? Do publishers throw in a free book as compensation? Somehow, I doubt that.
I can only hope that Jeff Bezos and Amazon do a better job when they finally launch the Kindle in Europe. Here’s a brief list of my requests for the powers-that-be at Amazon:
- No language-specific software
- Full range of ebooks which are available to US customers. Amazon do this with the English Bookstore on Amazon Germany, so hopefully they will follow suit with ebooks
- Competitive prices
- User-friendly device. I don’t want to waste time playing around with formats, stripping DRM, or whatever else it is that people do with ebooks.
Where do you stand on the ebook front? Do you own a Sony Reader or a Kindle? If so, are you affected by geographical restrictions?
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Hi Sarah
Interesting topic
I don’t own an e-reader yet and like you, I’m not ready to make the jump. First of all, I live in Canada, but in the French-speaking province (Quebec) and here, the Sony e-reader is not sold in-store? Why, because the program is all in English ^_^; Our law states that everything should be bilingual (English and French) and so as a result, no Sony e-reader. Stupid law, I know.
I could order one, but I’m still not convince. I don’t think I would have any geographical restriction like you, but what really puts me off is the e-books pricing. Like you, I can’t justify paying the same amount for an electronic copy. The main hurdle however is technology. Once you jump on the e-books bandwagon, then you’re at the mercy of the technology and I’m sure they won’t stopped tweaking things up. It’s like VCR tapes –> VCD –> DVD –> HD DVD. I’ll evolve and evolve and then, you’ll have to follow the technology. I mean, just look at the different format the books are being sold in.
I know we’re at in an electronic age and it’s “greener” to buy e-books, but not me…
Ah, I nearly bought a Sony Reader from Playcom yesterday, at a super price, but what’s the point of me buying it if the books I want, many of them US romances, are unavailable to me [in UK] due to this ridiculous geographical restriction system! I would love to have a Sony, because I’m a gadget nut, but I’m not such a techie that I want to be messing around with DRM stripping and all that palaver. I want to buy a reader that works out of the box, zip over to Fictionwise, purchase *whatever* want, load it and read it, and that’s that. Until I can do that, I shall hesitate over buying a dedicated ebook reader.
I do already read some ebooks on my Palm PDA, but it’s very small and I’d prefer something more book sized.
Sarah WORD!!! DRM Is bad bad bad. Ebook prices are WAY to high (ridiculously so) and Ereaders are still way too expensive for the average reader. Not to mention I don’t like the amazon/kindle monopoly. I predict, and I’d even bet money on it, about the time someone comes out with a really nice eReader under 200.00 (American), DRM will begin to disappear and prices will drop.
It will be very interesting to see what Google prices their ebooks at!
I’ve had a Sony 505 for about a year and half now and love it. That said, I’m in the US (so no geographic restriction) and I haven’t run up against the pricing issue too much. Why? I use my Sony almost exclusively for my Harlequin reading. I’m a bit of a Harlequin ho, and the print editions were starting to take over the Bat Cave. Also, I’m largely a “throw-away” reader (read a book, get rid of it unless I LOVED it) – so I’m not too worried about format changes, backing up my ebook files etc. I don’t keep a ton of print books after I read them, so why keep every single ebook I’ve ever purchased?
As convenient as my Sony is for Harlequin reading and for when I travel, I don’t see myself giving up print any time soon. I like print. I like that I can swap and share my print books, whereas I can’t really do that easily with ebooks without creating a new file, thus making me a dirty, dirty book pirate. Also, I still prefer to read full-length novels in print. I don’t know why. I’ve read full-length novels on my Sony – but print is still king for me.
@nath I find the various formats available confusing. They’ll probably settle on one format eventually but the question is when?
@Portia Da Costa Yep, those pesky geo restrictions. Very annoying. Maili said on Twitter that there are valid legal reasons behind them but I don’t understand why these laws apply only to ebooks.
@Ames I suppose it’s all relative. Apart from the language issue on the Sony Readers available in Switzerland, the cost of the device is about what I spend on books per year. With ebooks priced higher than what I currently pay for paperbacks, it would make zero financial sense at the moment.
@Wendy I should have said in my post that the only place I buy ebooks is eHarlequin. Their prices are fair (lower than print editions) and you can find out-of-print books. Also, they are quite short and I don’t mind reading them on the PC. I don’t want to read a 400-page novel on the computer. That would result in eyestrain and a serious case of numb ass!
Waterstones online store in the UK carries a lot of Harlequin books in the epub format, for Sony, but not all of them. And no Spice Briefs! The Mills and Boon site also carries some too, even a few Briefs, but critically, not a number of particular titles I fancy.
And yes, I accept that there must be legit. legal reasons for the restrictions. But like you say, it’s bizarre that we can buy the print versions when we can’t buy the digital ones.
@Portia Da Costa Do the restrictions now apply at the eHarlquin.com store as well??? Aargh! Must check that out. If so, I’m annoyed!
I don’t see myself jumping to an e-reader any time soon. For one, I don’t have enough money to buy one. For another, I mostly read mass market paperbacks, which are more portable than e-reader and usually cost the same in e-book format as in print. And for another, I get the vast majority of books I read from the library these days–which doesn’t loan e-books (would be cool if they did, though). So even without DRM and language restrictions (which I agree are totally dumb and unnecessary), it’s still not worth it to me to buy one.
I suppose the differences in copyright and other laws from one country to the next are some sort of valid reason for applying regional restrictions on the availability of content. Companies need to cover their (legal) asses. Still, it’s annoying me to no end.
Language restrictions on the other hand…. WTH is up with that? Especially in a country like Switzerland which has four (!) official languages. Does that mean that you can get an eReader and not even read all the books on it which ARE officially available in Switzerland (I’m assuming that there are French and German and Italian language ebooks officially available for purchase)
My vision of the global village is one where all content is available to anybody, anywhere AND it’s device independent. But that is a dream, and will probably remain one for a long time. Companies don’t seem to have realized that they don’t need to *pretend* that they are in the content providing business and not in the money making business. They *are* in the money making business and that is legitimate. People nowadays are prepared to pay for convenience, and what is happening is decidedly in-convenient. Bad business tactics IMO.
I would probably say that I am an ebook convert in many ways, though more to the newer epubs since, as an Aussie I now have geo restrictions. *full hissy fit* I would buy at minimum two ebooks a week from Samhain and the like.
Am so disappointed by the restrictions on mainstream, as Australia does not have amazon or the like, we have to shop at the chains last time I looked MME prices ranged from $14.95-19.95.. sigh so we were praising the ebook revolution.. I do import a lot from the US, but postage price and wait can be a PIA.
I just do not understand why the publishers need to split the digi rights that way, it just makes no sense – unless it is foreign language. *headdesk*
Oh there is also no supported reader here, except for I think Dymocks was talking of doing one, but it was gonna cost $700.. no deal! So all my reading is done on the PC. *pout*
Apologies for the rambling.. a bit loopy from super long shift.
@heidenkind A Sony Reader or Kindle is still expensive enough to qualify as a luxury item. I can’t see someone on a limited budget, or a casual reader, forking out that much money. I really wish I could borrow more books from my local library! I joined last year and pretty much read their entire English-language section in a couple of months.
@Christian The guy at Sony said there are only French and German versions of the Reader on sale in Switzerland. No Italian version, and definitely no Reto-Romanisch. I’m surprised there’s no law against this, like the one Nath mentioned in Canada.
Although I’m generally against Amazon’s bully boy tactics, I’m rather hoping they’ll bulldoze their way over geographical restrictions and offer their entire selection to European Kindle readers.
I think the traditional publishing industry is a bit like RWA: determined to kill ebooks before they take off.
@Edie Have you tried ordering from the Book Depository? http://www.bookdepository.co.uk/ They offer free shipping to anywhere in the world. I’m sure you’d still come up against Australian import taxes, but if you only ordered a couple of books at a time, it would probably be OK.
I did catch that bookdepository link a bit ago, but must admit I am a bit out of the loop on new books, since I have had a break from buying print books for a while.. Don’t suppose you can recommend some paranormals for me so I can try it out? lol
PS. also think you may have something with the publishers not really wanting the ebook thing to take off.. no idea why though realistically. But I could have peroxided my head too much, but it seems they would stand to do well with it if it did take off.
@Edie As I don’t read much paranormal, I’m probably not the best person to give you recommendations. One fantastic author is Patricia Briggs. Her books are more Urban Fantasy than paranormal romance, but definitely worth checking out. Although I’m not a fan of her books, many readers rave about Nalini Singh. Her Psy/Changeling series can definitely be classified as paranormal romance. I like J.R. Ward, but her first three books are better than the later ones.
I know Katiebabs and The Book Smugglers read a lot of paranormal, so you might find more info there (links are on my sidebar).
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