I recently tried to sell some of my paperbacks at a half-prince bookstore, and to my chagrine, they were worth next to nothing.

So, I donated them to the local hospital, and then bought ebook replacements for some of them, I travel frequently, and having my entire library at my fingertips is wonderful.

In fact, I have all of my companies product manuals in ebook form also...

I treasure my printed books; but I find my Kindle very useful when I do not want to carry many books.
I think it is up to the buyer what they spend -- not that some other entity is responsible for the cost of books. Being "taken care of" has its own terrible price.

The last 6 books I've read on Kindle were under $4.99. You just have to shop around.

I agree with OP - I don't even know where my Kindle is. I specifically bought it for trips. I took it on trips twice, but both times, it refused to work (after working perfectly the night before the trip). Now I just pack paperbacks.

Then I read about how companies are tracking people's detailed reading habits (how fast, whether they finish, how often they access etc) using the data from their e-readers. That's a little too intrusive for me.

I like having my kindle in my purse when I'm waiting for the doctor. I like my books in paper too. I've never paid more for the e-book than the printed one ever. And I never will.

I find I read more since owning a Kindle (and iPad). It makes it so easy to have a selection of books at your fingertips.

Much easier to buy used books at a used book bookstore for 1/3 to 1/10 of original price. You just have to wait awhile in the case of new publications. I don't understand why people need to carry large numbers of books at once, unless they're for work or research. For books off copyright (i.e. author dead 70 yrs.) go to archive.org and download the wealth of the continent's greatest university librairies.

I too have been reading a bit more since getting my iPad. But I really don't care for the pricing structures of the Nook or Kindle. This seems to just be an extension of the music industry, remember being promised that CD prices would go down over time as production costs dropped?

There's a Kindle Daily Deal (one each for adults and children or teens priced at $1.99) and hundreds of free ebooks available at Amazon each day. Google ''Kindle Daily Deal''. Then go to ''Discussions,'' one of the links running across top of page. In discussions, look for the thread for each day:

FREE Books and Chat - Monday, Oct. 1, 2012

Starting the tread each day will be a number of links to hundreds of freebies or you can skim through the chat looking for recommendations of other Kindle fans.

If you haven't come across the freebies yet it's worth checking out: many genres, some junk, some gems.

Maybe this is a little off-topic but my experience with our local library and e-books is head-shaking. They treat their e-book library as if it were a hard-book library. If an e-book is 'checked out,' no one else can 'check it out' until it is 'returned.' Once I attempted to download a book that showed 'available.' The download went awry and when I immediately attempted another download the book showed 'checked out' but I could put it 'on hold' for when it was returned. (Since I couldn't 'return' it, it's probably still unavailable. I may have an over-due charge!)

I still prefer "real" books, but I found an excellent use for my Kindle. I have my reference books on the Kindle. (dictionaries, thesaurus, etc.)

So much more convenient to tote a Kindle with all the stuff I might need - all in one place and weighs practically nothing.

Knew that this would be coming. ebooks are just as, if not more mercinary, than hard copy. After all...you have to 'pay' for the new tech; ala 'Obamacare'...

As with most things, it depends on what you want to buy and how much you want to spend. Frankly, I love my kindle and ebooks on my macbook and smartphone. I don't know about other people but I had and still have hundreds and hundreds of printed books around my house. It drove my husband crazy. Now we are both happy...I have books and he doesn't have to look at the printed copies.

Plain and simple greed on the part of the publishers. And it's this level of greed that drives many people to piracy.

I LOVE my Nook and use it a few times a day. One of our teen daughters has a Nook and always is using hers--in addition, since we home educate, we can keep literature books on it for her to read. We really like e-readers....four people in our family have them and they are used daily.

Publishers hate ebooks and don't understand that they're doomed like vinyl records. So they keep the ebook prices artificially inflated in an attempt to keep people from buying ebooks.
Meanwhile independent authors are selling their self published work at much lower prices and are making serious money. It turns out you really don't need a publisher if you're a good writer, and there are a lot of good writers out there.
Traditional publishers are in serious trouble, they just haven't realized it yet.

Several related and unrelated issues are in play here. Confusion may run riot.

As to production cost, certainly providing ebooks [and music downloads -- Amazon has great classical collections priced very attractively] should cost less than making and shipping the physical product. However, despite what gov't busybodies "justify" their interference with [at least in part], selling price is not determined by direct costs plus a bit of [e-w-w-w!] profit. Price is properly set in a free market [the best system, period] by supply and demand. [Detailed discussion deferred.]

Intangibles are involved, too. People willingly pay for convenience. That fact is attested to everywhere [e.g. see posts]. They pay for exclusivity, and for being among the first to have Item X. Should I say "Item i"?

But interfering pols have trained people to demand interference from gov't, rather than let the Invisible Hand provide real and better remedies. That's bad.

Last for now is the problem of what you "get" in "buying" an ebook. Often, it's just a limited use license, with, as #4 reminds, heaps of intrusion thrown in. IMHO, intrusive data collection and use will in some way inflict some very, very damaging tush-bites to those entities that think the mis-use of information their "clever" nerds collect is their "right," and that the information is their property for any use. Chomp!

I disagree with the greed arguments.

Supply and demand. As long as publishers are not deceptively advertising, if people want the convenience of an electronic book and are willing to pay more, so be it!

If people go to hard copies in reaction to the cost differential, so be it!

I don't see what the problem is.

Not too many years ago, the book publishing industry introduced another profitable scam. Suddenly, paperbacks were manufactured to be one inch higher and two dollars more expensive. Where were all the tree-huggers when we really needed them? While certain business practices are entirely legal, they amount to nothing more than gouging the public.

ebooks are better even if the prices were even more expensive than they are.
I can adjust the font size, so I don't need reading glasses anymore.
I do most of my reading at night in bed, and don't need a lamp on the nightstand anymore.
I use iPad for a reader and read mostly non-fiction. If I'm reading about a subject I'd like more info on, I switch to the web and search for the subject.
Even now, I still need to look up the meaning of some words. ereaders can find the definition at the touch of a finger.
You can download the Kindle app on iPad, so you can compare prices between Amazon and Apple and choose whichever.
Plus there are a ton of classic books available absolutely free at both sites.

Six publishers bullied Amazon and other e-book dealers into accepting a contract whereby the publishers set the e-book prices. They immediately raised the prices to what we see today. Amazon and Barnes and Noble can discount the hardcover books and they do. That's what causes the price disparity as it stands.

It's a disgusting practice the publishers have latched onto in order to avoid their own evolution, but above poster is correct. You can get good deals and discover good new authors if you shop around.

And, if you like science fiction or military fantasy, you should go to the Baen website. They charge $6 for an e-book even if it's a bundle of three in a series and they have some of the best authors in the genre.

It really depends on what you want to spend on your ebook.
There are some books I will spend top dollar on to download because I want to read that book NOW.

Other books I set the title aside and wait for the price to eventually drop.
Two years ago a book came out by Ken Follett that I wanted to read but was unwilling to pay nearly $20 for it. Last week I downloaded that book for $9.99 which is what I wanted to pay.

I love books and read several a week. I had no lingering attachment to those books.
Before I got my Kindle and it was a royal pain to get rid of the stacks and stacks I had all over the house.
I donated them everywhere...took them as gifts( haha) to anyone I could think of...
To have all that vaulable space back is a pure blessing.

You may not being paying for paper, but you are paying for the "cloud". That is lots of computers and lots of storage space to hold you E-books.

Just because you don't print something, doesn't mean it's "free." There is the editing and pubilshing costs, as well as the privilege of having a book that will never tear, come apart at the seams or fall into the bathtub. It can be loaded on a new device forever, and be part of a library that doesn't take up space.

It is just like the crooks who download songs, and expect them to be "free" because they are out there in cyberspace.

#23 How am I paying for the cloud. I bought my kindle. There is no other charge. I go to my kindle list and I find books for $1.00. In fact I bought Hunger games for $1.00

I love my kindle. I live in a small town with a small library. I am getting to read books that I never would have gotten to read without my kindle.

Here is web site for free ebooks. List changes daily.Make sure its still free before you down load.

http://www.squidoo.com/the-best-of-amazon-daily-free-ebooks-kindle-ipad

To all. Thanks for the information about what's going on with the ebooks. I had a kook and I loved it. I had just received a tablet for my birthday with a kindle app. I gave my kook to my son because like his dad he loves to read. Now back to the story. It just depends on what you want and what you're willinig to pay. The last book that I read the hardcover cost 19.95 at Walmart (real price 27.95). It cost me with tax 16.75 to download it to my kook. I have a pretty good library of book that I like along with various reference books. It is just convient for me to have my tablet in my back pack than a paperback or a hardcover. And to #21. Thanks for that website. I love military fantasy and will definitely check it out.

I love my Kindle but I look for deals, and gutenberg.org is a great site too for free classics.

Current ebook pricing reminds me of the early 80s when Hollywood started selling feature movies on VHS tape, prices were $75-$90 each. Very few takers at that level. Publishers will hopefully figure out price elasticity of demand and bring down the prices.

Publishers own the books. They can charge what they want in any form. You can decide what form you want to buy the book in or choose not to buy it at all.

This is just plain economic freedom.

If they sell it for more in electronic form it is because they believe it has more value in electronic form.

If you choose to pay more for electronic form, it is because you believe in that added value.

Basic economics.

You are not buying the ebook, you are leasing it. When I buy something I can do whatever I want with it. You can't even loan an ebook to a friend unless you also loan the reader.

Kindle books can be loaned to another reader for 14 days. The directions for doing this are on the Amazon Help website.

If you never plan to move, by all means buy hard cover or paperback. But be prepared to give them away when you weigh the cost per pound to move them. The e-books have their place, just as hardbound books do. I use and enjoy both.

"Experts and consumers are enraged..."?

I hope those experts and consumers can cope with reality. There is no correct price for either a book or an ebook.

And no one was put on this earth to provide them to another at a low cost.

I feel $14 popcorn costs too much at the movies. So I never buy it. In fact I don't got to the movies anyway with tickets above $10.

But sometimes I stand outside for a moment to watch the outraged expert movie ticket buyers and equally outraged plain old movie ticket consumers.

My two major problems are:

1. I need large print. Added to speed reading and tapping for the next page is almost constant (and irritating).

2. You can't donate an e-book and take the tax deduction.

As many books as I sometimes read in a week, that tax deduction is very helpful. Btw, I buy my used books at a thrift store.