E-Books Priced Right or Wrong?

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One of the key questions facing e-books is how much the price should be for a digital copy of a physical book? In Wired Magazine blog called “Kindle Readers Ignite Protest Over E-Book Prices” Priya Ganapati tries to shed light on this new problem. The Amazon market has set a constant price of e-books at $9.99. Many people like a Connecticut librarian feels as though since an e-book is digital and not a physical copy it should not cost as much as said physical copy. Priya then states that while there are those who are boycotting this price to have it lowered that many still feel that the price is justified. Priya brings up Tim Stevens who is a software engineer and Kindle owner who states that while many would like to see e-books drop in price the convenience in the platform is worth the few extra dollars. While some are boycotting the e-book market has clearly are not being hindered by it as Priya brings in facts presented by Association of American Publishers. According to the Association of American Publishers e-book rose in sale by 68.4 percent to 113.8 million dollars. Priya is quick to point out that paper books have dropped off in sales by 2.8 percent overall. Another positive that is keeping the e-book popular is the amount of books available. Priya states that the kindle has hundreds of books and newspaper articles for download which other wise would not be available for most readers to read. Clearly it seems that e-books despite the cost have found a place in the economical market.

Priya Ganapati shows in this blog one sides argument for the lowering of e-book prices but then states that the price is justifiable because of the advantages that e-books present. E-books allow a new convenience that bookstores do not in that the product is always in stock. This is a valid point that one must consider when deciding if e-books are the future. Another positive to this article is that Priya uses facts presented by the Association of American Publishers to show that e-books are clearly not effected by protesters or pirates. The price of e-books will have an impact to how well devices such as the Kindle and Sony Reader. Therefore in order to make a valid argument one has to look at the views of others. Priya does a good job of bringing in a librarian, and a software engineer both kindle owners who have different views has the price of e-books. This contrast allows Priya to clearly back the opinion that e-book prices should be looked at as fair. Those reading this article could use this opinion and the facts that e-books are convenient to provide points for their argument.