Galleycat just posted an article on the pricing of e-books, which is really just a report on this original article.

It raises some good points. How much should e-books cost the consumer? There's certainly little to no production or holding costs. But it's important for the book price to be a fair assessment of the value.

The article makes a good comparison of used books to e-books, and draws this (accurate) conclusion:

...the sensible reader will know which books get put on a library list and which books they buy—and that won’t be to hardback-priced best-sellers infested with DRM.

Here's my take:

• E-books cost very little on the publisher's end
• E-books provide me as a consumer with very little--there's no book on my shelf, in the end
• E-books are not that convenient; the average person has a laptop, not a e-reader
• Pirating is much more likely with higher prices
• DRMs will drive pirating up, not down
• The easier (in convenience and cost) it is to buy an e-book, the more that will be sold
• The more e-books sold, the more paper books sold
• ...therefore, E-book should be sold for no more than $5, and should be as easy to download as technologically possible!

What do you think? How much should e-books cost? Why?