FWIW I meant to be downloaded, not to be available via internet/web (as that would be a different product and the analogy wouldn't work).
It's not the zero dollars extra, it's the fact there is no actual publishing and so there is a huge cost-saving through - in most cases - no effort of the publisher. Instead of sharing that cost saving to the benefit of society they swallow it and add extra charges which undoes the benefits that the technological move has created. The only reason an ebook costs more than a paperback is greed; allowing the greedy to dictate access to arts (eg fiction books) and informational sources is not right IMO.
I'm not at all arguing that publishing houses can't abuse the power but when they do like this it makes it hard to side against Amazon coming along to whip them in to line. The publishing houses could have set less greedy ebook prices first and Amazon wouldn't then get to do their knight-in-shining-[consumer-championing]-armour act.
Ebook sellers may think you can't resell but first-sale doctrine disagrees. Of course media companies are lobbying to ensure that such established doctrine get reinterpreted to their favour but that again is not acceptable. Again the rich moulding the law to their favour ...
As an aside IMO there should be no copyright protection granted to sellers who lock up their wares in such a way as to prevent them being resold. In addition as such wares aren't going to enter the public domain (so far as is known at the time the copyright is being granted) we - the people - owe them nothing in protection of their works.
FWIW I meant to be downloaded, not to be available via internet/web (as that would be a different product and the analogy wouldn't work).
It's not the zero dollars extra, it's the fact there is no actual publishing and so there is a huge cost-saving through - in most cases - no effort of the publisher. Instead of sharing that cost saving to the benefit of society they swallow it and add extra charges which undoes the benefits that the technological move has created. The only reason an ebook costs more than a paperback is greed; allowing the greedy to dictate access to arts (eg fiction books) and informational sources is not right IMO.
I'm not at all arguing that publishing houses can't abuse the power but when they do like this it makes it hard to side against Amazon coming along to whip them in to line. The publishing houses could have set less greedy ebook prices first and Amazon wouldn't then get to do their knight-in-shining-[consumer-championing]-armour act.
Ebook sellers may think you can't resell but first-sale doctrine disagrees. Of course media companies are lobbying to ensure that such established doctrine get reinterpreted to their favour but that again is not acceptable. Again the rich moulding the law to their favour ...
As an aside IMO there should be no copyright protection granted to sellers who lock up their wares in such a way as to prevent them being resold. In addition as such wares aren't going to enter the public domain (so far as is known at the time the copyright is being granted) we - the people - owe them nothing in protection of their works.