[pbhjpbhj]

>Think about the software that I purchase online that costs $0.001 to deliver and I pay $595 - it costs 1/10,000th what the old version with paper books, and CDs, and nice glossy boxes. //

Er, what? The software doesn't cost $0.001 to produce.

This is more akin to being able to buy that software in a Staples store for $595 in a box with a DVD and manual. Then the producer starts selling it online for $650, because after all you no longer have to go to the store. They just refuse to cut the consumer in on the savings of not producing boxes, not producing media, not creating manuals and instead only focus on the added utility.

When you're dealing in cultural arts and informational products that can benefit society and instead of allowing the benefit of new technology to enrich you further and enrich society more you instead steal the whole benefit for yourself that's evil.

In terms of Scalzi's example: Yes a soda that's sold for $2 in a can might cost 20c to produce, fine no problem. But then recycling takes off and tech develops and that can now costs 12c less to produce so you put the price up to $3 because you're using more recycled material and that's now a selling point. That's what's wrong here. You already had more profit by selling at the same price point, the move in tech and society created the benefit and you leached it and cynically did one over on your customers because you knew that their desire to improve the world could allow you to get a better price.

[ghshephard]

The thing is - I've always been willing to pay a great deal more for software online than on CD - it has more value to me.

The fact that it costs zero dollars to produce (on the margin) is immaterial.

One good argument though, against eBooks being more expensive - you can't resell them, or ven easily give them away, or lend them. That issue, right there, should make eBooks worth less to the person buying them - but having nothing whatsoever to do with the fact that they cost less to produce.

[pbhjpbhj]

>software online than on CD

FWIW I meant to be downloaded, not to be available via internet/web (as that would be a different product and the analogy wouldn't work).

It's not the zero dollars extra, it's the fact there is no actual publishing and so there is a huge cost-saving through - in most cases - no effort of the publisher. Instead of sharing that cost saving to the benefit of society they swallow it and add extra charges which undoes the benefits that the technological move has created. The only reason an ebook costs more than a paperback is greed; allowing the greedy to dictate access to arts (eg fiction books) and informational sources is not right IMO.

I'm not at all arguing that publishing houses can't abuse the power but when they do like this it makes it hard to side against Amazon coming along to whip them in to line. The publishing houses could have set less greedy ebook prices first and Amazon wouldn't then get to do their knight-in-shining-[consumer-championing]-armour act.

Ebook sellers may think you can't resell but first-sale doctrine disagrees. Of course media companies are lobbying to ensure that such established doctrine get reinterpreted to their favour but that again is not acceptable. Again the rich moulding the law to their favour ...

As an aside IMO there should be no copyright protection granted to sellers who lock up their wares in such a way as to prevent them being resold. In addition as such wares aren't going to enter the public domain (so far as is known at the time the copyright is being granted) we - the people - owe them nothing in protection of their works.