ebooks, why are some so expensive, I wonder?

[Guest MonkeyBAWS]

I was looking at buying an ebook for my soon to be delivered spv, but I noticed something odd. Most ebooks were reasonably priced, around $4.99, which being from the uk, is nice and cheap. However, some of the newer ones are the same price as the actual hardcover book that I could pop to Waterstones and buy!!

Anyone else think some of them are too pricey?

Having said that, I wouldn't mind as much if the price was cutting out the publisher and went straight to the author.....

[Guest fraser]

What gets my goat is when they charge around a tenner for an old (classic) book that is in the public domain. Ten quid per user for cutting and plasting some text that is freely available on the net already? A fool and his money...