Here’s something else made of bullshit fail:

This is the price matrix for a book I’d like to read. Note that the paperback is listed.

Problem number one is that it won’t actually be released until April, so fuck you very much, Amazon, for that bait and switch.

Problem number two is that the Kindle price is higher than the paperback price, but delivers drastically less value on a number of fronts:

First, you don’t really own it — Amazon can decide one day to simply delete it from your Kindle on a whim. There’s no way to back up your purchases separate from Amazon; the whole thing is a giant exercise in “Trust me!” that successful digital music plans have never replied upon.

Second, a digital book (while cute and trendy) still lacks some key factors. You can’t read it during take-off or landing on a plane, for example. You can’t read it in the bath unless you feel like endangering your $100+ Kindle. Taking it to the beach is a bit of a bad idea, too.

Third, a digital book has no residual value. You can’t sell it to Half Price, you can’t pass it on to your pal at work, etc. It’s locked to you, and that means you get less value for your money.

This is not to say that Kindle books, or e-books in general, don’t have their place. They do. But publishers need to realize that consumers are not stupid (at least not all of them), and price them accordingly. Their business model isn’t my problem; with the current crop of DRM-locked e-books, I can’t see paying more than 50% of the cost of a physical book for any e-book.

And yes, this means that when the paperback shows up, it depresses the value of the electronic version. A $9 e-book sold in concert with an $18 hardback makes sense, but the introduction of a $10 paperback of the same book changes the math. A $9 e-book “lease” is a lot less compelling if I can actually own the thing for $10.