Brief 699 | Amazon Drama, 80 Port USB Hub, VoIP over 3G, JVC’s DLA-SH7NL, Texting Underground
Posted on: February 1, 2010
Posted in: Video
Posted by: Cali Lewis
Shownotes:
Amazon and publisher Macmillan got into a disagreement over what eBooks should cost you. The argument resulted in all Macmillan books being taken off the Amazon store, then put back at a higher price. Will you pay $15 for a digital book? Leave a comment below!
If you have enough gadgets to fill this 80 port USB hub, I have to know who you are and what those gadgets are!
Apple is allowing VoIP calls over 3G. One of the apps allowed is Fring.
JVC’s DLA-SH7NL projector has a resolution of 4096×2400 and supports 2 or 4 displays at full HD resolution.
Alexander Kendrick is 16 and set a record for the deepest digital communication in the US with his collapsible antenna that allows SMS from 946 feet underground.
If you want to find out about things like the Macworld contest where Data Robotics is giving away two Drobos (I’m judging), or if you just want to see what crazy bacon recipes I’ve discovered, you can get all that and more tech goodness on my blog at www.calilewis.me.
Kristian Mathiesen used my discount code GEEK at SquareSpace.com to easily and quickly build kristianmathiesen.com for a 12% discount. When you use any of our sponsors’ promo codes, be sure to let me know by email or tweet me a link @calilewis.
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February 1st, 2010 at 10:06 pm
I wouldn’t pay the $12.99 to $14.99 for an e-book. Of course I don’t own a Kindle, and until it will allow me to read pdf files (especially encrypted ones), I wouldn’t even bother with it. Since my college e-books are pdf’s, I need something that will allow me to read them (although I have to authenticate with a server, so I doubt it will happen anytime soon).
Have a great day:)
Patrick.
February 2nd, 2010 at 12:28 am
I support MacMillan’s position and find Amazon to be throwing way too much monopolistic muscle around for my comfort. There is no online retailer that can pose as an alternative to amazon so it’s disconcerting that they will start taking these faux pro-consumer stands.
Remember this is the company that patented one-click, they are not happy fuzzy consumer friendly.
There is more to the MacMillan issue than was reported in this brief anyway. The far more important aspect of MacMillan’s requirement is that Amazon is acting as an agent/distribution channel for MacMillan to sell directly to customers just like App store developers get from Apple. It’s *EXACTLY* the same model. I believe this is a far better, far more modern and web appropriate model to follow. Furthermore I think books are too cheap anyway, and that as we commoditize and devalue them we will simply see worse and worse entries in the market. It makes no sense to me that we accept $14.99 for a new DVD but a book has to be $9.99 and you’re getting the same digital restrictions in both cases. After all, a book generally provides much more entertainment value, especially to those of us who find the reading experience to be richer than video.
So frankly, I don’t think amazon is acting to protect consumers in any way. This is merely them showing their fangs in response to a rights-holder wishing to distribute their product directly to their customers rather than have a pointless middle-man calling pricing shots. Amazon’s only reason for fighting this is that they need their loss-leader $9.99 pricing to push Kindle sales, that’s it. Don’t mistake that for protecting consumers. But Amazon also knows that MacMillan has a large share of the eBook buying populous and can’t reasonably expect to sell Kindles when Tor isn’t on board.
Also, another part of this that is not recognized by the brief is that MacMillan plans to price in a range from $5.99 to $14.99 with NEW RELEASE TITLES being $12.99-14.99 when released DAY AND DATE with the Hardback releases. I think it’s fairly obvious that they will lower prices around the normal timeframes that paper books have their prices lowered, aka when paperbacks are released. Why, when there are numerous advantages to electronic books vs. paper books, do we assume they should be valued less? Because the cost structures are different? I think there’s a misunderstanding of how pricing is derived for products, especially mass market products like books. The prices are set by what the market will bear, and if the market can’t bear a reasonable price for the publisher to make a profit, the source of books will evaporate.
Honestly though, I think pricing will normalize towards this range. If there is anything that consumers should be up in arms about it’s the quality assurance levels for the eBooks that are sold. There are far too many errors, and that shouldn’t be acceptable. A proper, quality eBook is high value proposition, reading across multiple devices, without the space or weight requirements of a physical book, with virtual bookmarks remembered and even synchronized on your behalf without having to wreck the book, and with better eBook reading platforms, great annotation support. Instant dictionary lookups… the list of advantages goes on and on. It’s strange to me to expect eBooks to be so much cheaper than the paper books released at the same time.
But hey, it’s really, really easy to send a message to reflect your opinion on the prices. Buy or don’t buy, vote with dollars, we’ll see what happens. I’ve been buying eBooks for years from sources like fictionwise, often having to pay well over $9.99. $14.99 still looks rather fine to me, and gives me a better sense of fairness in terms of supporting the artists/market that’s producing what I like. So I’ll happily “vote” in favor of this model and price structure over the coming years.
February 2nd, 2010 at 6:43 am
There’s a big difference between buying a real book(or dvd) for full price and buying an electronic-only copy.
The e-copy of a book has big (profit) advantages over real(paper) books.
Nothing to print/manufacture
No shipping / handling
No packaging
Doesn’t take up floor/shelf space.
Reproduction is unlimited and automatic.
Sure it takes bandwidth, but less bandwidth than a normal web page.
I see this as a book publisher trying to make a grab for extra profits, not as “trying to make ends meet in these tough economic times”. Because after you get create the first copy, the rest are free. So whether you sell 2K or 200K books, every E-Book sale is 99% profit. Split by Amazon and MacMillan of course.
I have an ebook reader, but not a Kindle but I’m looking at getting one. There are a couple of things that keep me from jumping down off the fence and making the purchase. First off is price of the Kindle, but I’m saving my pennies and I’m planning to buy it as soon as I can. Second on my list is that I’ve already got a bunch of ebooks and since they are a different format I’d have trouble getting them onto the Kindle. Third thing is the price of Amazon Ebooks. $9.99 is a bit steep IMHO.
Yes I believe in paying the artist for their work, but I’m not in favor of having to pay for the publishing company to send executives to a “Synergy Meeting” in Hawaii while staying at the Four Seasons. Which is why I look for discounts when buying paper books.
So if the price of the Ebooks was lower and I could transfer different formats over to it easier I’d already have a Kindle.
February 2nd, 2010 at 6:59 am
I feel that the customers should be the guide for the market, not Amazon. But considering it’s their service and their product that’s their choice ultimately.
February 2nd, 2010 at 7:20 am
There are some e-book titles that I would be willing to pay higher prices for. I do think that e-books will always have to be significantly less expensive than paper copies (and should be for that matter). I do think that amazon is just trying to keep it prices at $9.99 to push Kindle sales in the same way Apple was keeping iTunes prices at $.99 to sell iPods. Businesses are always looking out for themselves first though and that’s no big deal or surprise really.
As for me, I’d pay a few extra dollars for some newly published titles (though less than for an actual book). Others would have to come down in price (or else I’ll buy them used or in a discount bin). It seems as though e-books are being treated as mainstream a lot sooner than I expected.
February 2nd, 2010 at 7:24 am
I disagree that Amazon had our best interests in mind. The notion of a free market is that supply and demand dictate the price. The last thing we need is Amazon behaving like Walmart or Barnes & Nobles and demanding such low prices that it’s no longer worth it for authors to write anything but regurgitated content.
If it’s a good book, $15 is nothing. Consider that a book provides hours of entertainment, and dollar for dollar a much better value than a movie, and a much richer experience.
February 2nd, 2010 at 8:08 am
I also disagree that Amazon’s actions over the Macmillan pricing drama were done with the interest of the consumer in mind. The very fact that Amazon has taken a loss on some books is a clear indicator that Amazon’s interest is in selling more Kindles. It’s more likely that Amazon sees the $9.99 price point (cheaper than most trade sized books) as a key selling point for the Kindle.
I was pointed to an author’s point of view on the matter through a tweet by Brandon Sanderson (Mistborn, WOT – The Gathering Storm), which opened my eyes a bit: http://scottwesterfeld.com/blog/?p=2138
Don’t get me wrong, I like Amazon, but poor behavior is poor behavior. In the end, Amazon folded and all it got them was bad press. Amazon could have continued to negotiate and maybe reached a compromise (i.e. 13.99 instead of 14.99) – worst case scenario, they would have ended up where they did w/o the bad press. BTW – as of this post, I still can’t purchase Macmillan books directly through Amazon. How were my (a consumer) interests served?
February 2nd, 2010 at 8:16 am
Actually, although Amazon said they were capitulating to Macmillan’s demands, Macmillan books are still not available from Amazon. No ebooks, and hardcopies are, as yet, only available from 3rd party sellers. I’m skeptical that Amazon is sticking up for customers, regardless. I’m thinking they’re sticking up for Amazon.
February 2nd, 2010 at 9:24 am
I’m also in the camp that believes Amazon was in the wrong after reading John Scalzi’s post here: http://whatever.scalzi.com/2010/02/01/all-the-many-ways-amazon-so-very-failed-the-weekend/
The market really should be the one entity to decide what the prices are. Does that mean that some folks may not buy them as new releases? Sure, but let’s not forget that McMillan has at least suggested that they’d price books lower than $9.99, too, as the books age. I see this as primarily a move by Amazon to preserve the price fixing they’ve been accustomed to up until now.
February 2nd, 2010 at 11:05 am
McMillan should be able to charge any amount they want for their books. I just won’t be buying them.
I don’t have a Kindle, but I have purchased a Kindle ebook to read on the Kindle App on my iPhone and Windows. $9.99 for that experience was totally not worth it. It may be better on an actual Kindle, but any more than $9.99 and it’s a complete no go no matter what.
February 2nd, 2010 at 11:36 am
Generally speaking, the publishers need more cowbell before I’ll pay more than $10. Too often with my Kindle books, the copy looks like it was released to Amazon before the last round of copy editing. In one case, an author who makes use of an alternate all-caps font for a part of his books lost that in the “Kindle translation”, WiTH THe ResuLTING TExt LookINg LIKe thIS, in the same font as the main copy. Completely ruined what he was trying to do with his dialogue.
There are plenty of books available on the Kindle Store for less than $9.99, but unless Kindle copy quality improves to be much closer to published copy quality, I won’t give them a dime more.
February 2nd, 2010 at 1:57 pm
A point that no one has seemed to notice is that Amazon books are already over $9.99. I have books about database design on my Kindle that are over $30 and the Kindle edition of “The Law of Virtual Worlds and Internet Social Networks” sells for $107.
So my question is, hopefully Cali can ask the Amazon powers that be about this, what was all the hub-bub about if the whole $9.99 price point isn’t even a reality under the old agreement with publishers?
February 2nd, 2010 at 2:00 pm
Yeah Main Street! Yeah Disney World!
February 2nd, 2010 at 9:02 pm
Hey Cali
I went to download the fring app for my iPhone.. sounds great to be able to chat via 3G.. video chat at that. But there are two versions on the app store and I wasn’t sure which one you were referring to.
I’m looking forward to the iBook store & reader on the iPad and iPhone. Just think the experience will be more like reading a real book. Eye candy caught my attention. However I think I saw 12.99 and even 14.99 prices under some books during the keynote. Did anyone else notice this? I cannot imagine paying that much for an e-book. I mean I can now get digital downloads at the library or even convert via audiobook builder for itunes from a stack of books on CD.
February 2nd, 2010 at 10:17 pm
It’s good to hear that Apple is allowing VoIP calls over 3G. Because nearly all of my family have since returned to Ireland and Scotland and Skype is the most cost-effective way to stay in touch with them it terms of VoIP and IM, it’s my main “phone.” Apple allowing VoIP makes the iPad 3G all the more useful to me. :)
In libraries, we’re looking at the possibility that many of our yearly serial reference materials may one day only be available electronically. That’s because the cost of a publisher setting up to print a yearly edition is becoming so exorbitant in comparison to what few copies of a given yearly edition of a reference material the publisher might be able to sell to libraries and other institutions.
Am I making any sense? :-/
February 3rd, 2010 at 7:22 am
@SwitchingGranny – just the first Fring option – not the visually impaired one.
February 3rd, 2010 at 10:00 am
$15 is too much for an e-book. As for “monopolistic muscle” Mcmillan and wife are the monopolists. copyright means you can’t buy a particular book from another publisher (legally). No competition is the definition of monopoly. Amazon is big, but in no way has a monopoly on book sales. I support Amazon in trying to keep book prices low.
I counted 34 usb devices in my collection. most need more than charging, so I don’t need an 80 port charger.
February 3rd, 2010 at 10:18 am
Sorry for being so dense. Now, right to the point …
Twelve to fifteen dollars is a pricey amount for an electronic title, given the savings (and potential profit) incurred by not having to print on paper.
I’ll continue to checkout and read electronic titles from my local and campus library before I’ll pay twelve to fifteen dollars for a retail electronic copy.
For old-school g33k friends and myself, our hopes and aspirations for Project Gutenberg and The Online Book Initiative seem as such a faraway thing, these days. :-/
February 3rd, 2010 at 8:10 pm
I have a problem with how the whole electronic book paradigm is currently being handled. When I read books they are often ones that a friend has read and is lending it to me. When I read a book I like, I want to be able to pass it onto friends and family to read.
From what I understand, there is currently no way to transfer a purchased ebook. For a 1-person locked ebook the price must be significantly lower than what a peper copy costs for me to consider it worth while. Even at $10 is high considering that I often get books at used book stores for well under that price, and I can still pass them onto others when I’m done.
February 5th, 2010 at 8:28 am
Fring and the others???
Wow, smells like a sponsoring here…
Also check out iCal but definitely Nimbuzz! for 3G calling
February 5th, 2010 at 12:02 pm
Definitely not a sponsor. They were the ones I saw that were let in first. Perhaps I was incorrect, but regardless, they were the ones getting the attention. :)
February 6th, 2010 at 8:42 am
Books that cost more than Bluray from Amazon? That’s crazy!!!! Here is what I spent on my last order.
1 Unforgiven [Blu-ray] $8.99 1 $8.99
1 The Princess Bride [Blu-ray] $13.99 1 $13.99
1 Wedding Crashers [Blu-ray] $7.99 1 $7.99
I’m just sayin’! Thanks for reading this. Andy
February 12th, 2010 at 10:23 pm
Go Amazon .. but come on … who pays that much for an ebook ? beside Amazon does not have control over the ebook market, so if the money grabbers want to put the prices up, so be it.
as for USB count i have 45 usb items … all require more then just a charge and most are multiple of the same thing (like USB keys) …. oh i so need to throw some of them out !