Perceived value of ebooks decreasing?

Reading a Moby Lives article this morning (fantastic blog BTW) and they posted two surveys taken by author Nathan Bransford where he asked people what they thought an ebook should cost if the hardcover retailed at $25.

He ran the first survey on June 14 2010:

And then ran the exact same survey again on February 2, 2011:

The polls are entirely unscientific but it appears that all the $9.99 pricing pushes that have been going on for the past year or two are really leaving their mark. 

Comments

[Bill W]

Considering an ebook has no intrinsic value whatsoever then if it sells for a penny then it`s a profit. Only a fool can assume the value of ebooks will steadily go down and stay down. Eventually the ebook will dominate the market and the price will increase back to the previous retail price levels. Ebooks are the perfect form of merchandise, endless supply, practically no manufacturing costs, and it can`t be resold on the secondary market. The same is true for music and movies. The laws of supply and demand dictate except in this case when the supply is endless. So, it`s what people are willing to pay. We already know people will pay $25 or more for a new book so you better buy amazon stock and lots of it....

[shyla stylez]

Even though both book and ebook server the same purpose of providing knowledge to the reader, i must say i would prefer reading a book than an ebook. The feeling of holding a book in your hand, the smell of the printed paper, feel the weight of the book and flipping the page is very unique which a digital product cannot offer.

[Bonita Kale]

Books are more fun to read, but e-books are great for (1) travel, (2) having with you at all times, (3)immediate gratification.

I don't buy music. I assume those who do, intend to listen to the same piece many times. But you don't always intend to read the same book many times.

An e-book can't be passed on. A regular book can be given to a library sale, passed to a friend, sold at a bookstore, eventually pulped for paper. Pages may be torn out to keep, recipes copied on a photocopier, etc.

E-books are handier in size and weight, but less versatile in other ways. And they are far cheaper to produce than a regular book, too.

I'm not willing to pay much for what might turn out to be a one-time read.

Great for public libraries, though.

[Henry]

In my humble opinion, both ebooks and books have their own advantages and disavantages. While books hold a more physical value as Shyla Stylez said above, they also much more expensive and cumbersome to carry around. Ebooks is cheap and but you must have an electronic device to read them.

[Gwen Mies]

I have a 27 volumn set of hard cover books by Robert Louis Stevenson, that are bright red in color, with gold lettering, printed exactly 100 years ago. The books were copywrited in 1895 by the Charles Schribner and Sons company. The outside sleeve, or whatever it is called is faded. I was wanting to know their value, but can not seem to make the correct connection. Can this site help?

[eskort ilan]

books (who doesn't want to download their book now?), sells more Kindles, and further cements their erwt ert place in publishirewt ewrt g's future — both provider of new and destroyer of old (what bookstore can compete with 49% off?). Also, notice how Amazon is redefer twerning short writings with their Singles program. Fewer words, lower prices and, most importantly, a n fretew