Some old people don't understand why you would pay $10 to 'license' a book rather than $10 to own one. E-Book readers are certainly convenient, you can have a lot of books in your carry-on bag instead of one, and people are happy to pay for convenience. In my case, it is practical. I have a lot of old books so if I want to read them, I risk damaging them or I have to buy 'reader' copies and then take up twice as much space for the same book. And books in the public domain are often free.
Kindles, iPads, Nooks, they are all successful for their corporate sales departments so clearly people like the convenience, even if the price for a book with no media seems rather high. The U.S. Justice Department thinks there is something more sinister; collusion.
The line between capitalism and collusion is rather vague. Capitalism says price will match demand and if people do not want to pay $10 for a book, someone will come along and lower it. Since the government is not involved, like with solar panels and ethanol, there is no fake, taxpayer-subsidized pricing. The government says it has evidence that Apple and five publishers, Simon&Schuster, Hachette Book Group, Penguin Group, Macmillan and HarperCollins have all agreed to artificially inflate prices. It's good for Apple, they take a cut, and it's good for publishers because their brands get to remain 'prestigious'. How is capitalism not solving this problem? They all agree not to sell their work cheaper anywhere else. Still not sure that is collusion? It's a funny case to make. In the heavily-union 1980s and early 1990s culture, baseball owners were convicted of 'collusion' on no more evidence than that baseball salaries had not continued to rise fast enough. President Clinton even got the 1994 baseball strike to end by telling owners either they would cave in or he would get a government arbitrator to settle the issue.
Today, the government instead contends the "agency pricing model" is the culprit in e-books, again by greedy owners. Publishers insist a standard pricing model allows more content to be profitable so more booksellers thrive. Yes, they are charging more to benefit you and me.
The difference seems to be the method. Kindle sets its pricing based on expected demand and then adjusts. Collusion sets the price based on what the publisher wants it to be, buys off Apple with a 30 percent cut, and then contractually agrees to not let anyone else charge less.
U.S. may sue Apple, publishers on e-book pricing: report - Reuters
