^ Actually I really didn't mean that specifically about e-books, or in defense of e-books. (And FWIW, in the e-book related discussions I remember us both participating in I think I gave
great respect to your preference, and in other threads I've actually
warned about buying into ebooks just yet or pointed out one needs to at least be careful and smart about it, so I don't think making me out to be a single-minded poster boy for e-books is very fair.)
Rather I've been noticing the complaint coming up in relation to just about any product you can name: People complain that the
TNG Blu-rays are overpriced (despite being the result of a remastering project of unprecedented scale and difficulity that is costing a double-digit amount of millions of dollars to accomplish), people complain that
Federation: The First 150 Years is overpriced (despite being a complicated and unusual product with likely bad economies of scale), people complain that the e-books are overpriced, ... I don't know, perhaps in every one of these cases the people in question are actually qualified to comment on the industry in general and those products specifically after having done the proper amount of research. But somehow I doubt it; I think quite often it's more likely that what they really mean to say is
well bummer, I wish it was cheaper than that.
And I just generally don't have that impulse to start off with the assumption that the other side is out to screw me over, either. I think the businesses that survive have usually figured out that it's a bad strategy in the long run to screw over their customers, and price fairly. I suppose many would call that naive and foolish. I wonder if it's a cultural difference, too; maybe it's more common in the US to engage with the market in such a guarded way as a consumer?
Additionally, there's that whole voting-with-your-wallet angle: I don't really mind if the profit margin on the
TNG Blu-rays is good for CBS Home Entertainment. On the contrary, I hope they get filthy rich as a reward for the daunting and ambitious task they've committed to doing, and in the hopes that they're going to see a business case for remastering the other shows as well (and the other shows are going to have smaller audiences, so the economies of scale are worse, but consumers are probably not going to stand for selling them at higher prices so I hope they priced
TNG at a level that makes sense for them too). Similarly, I hope it pays off to make something as ambitious as
Federation: The First 150 Years so we'll see more products like it.
As for e-book pricing specifically, they may very well be priced unfairly right now: I'm not qualified to comment, so I won't make claims either way. What I do know is that I don't
mind paying a small amount extra for my preferred reading experience. This is purely psychological; since I value the experience higher and consider it superior I am OK with paying more for it.
