Re:The most expensive e-book
by captainmuon on Thursday February 06, 2014 @09:32AM
(#7190530)
That book is a famous reference book, it's not supposed to be bought by individuals, but by university libraries. The price is so high because a more reasonable price would be a "drop in the ocean" for a typical library, and they might as well give it away for free then. So they choose a price as high as the libraries can pay.
It reminds me a bit of the pricing of scientific journals. They are basically just magazines, but horrendously expensive because they are marketed towards libraries. The difference to this is that you can buy individual articles. To keep the libraries buying, they also put a ridiculous price on the articles, like $45 a piece. People are not supposed to buy them individually either, its just to keep the price up (and the articles formally available).
It reminds me a bit of the pricing of scientific journals. They are basically just magazines, but horrendously expensive because they are marketed towards libraries. The difference to this is that you can buy individual articles. To keep the libraries buying, they also put a ridiculous price on the articles, like $45 a piece. People are not supposed to buy them individually either, its just to keep the price up (and the articles formally available).