CompuServe Messages

I agree the reduced-type/standard-type OED versions are essentially the same where functionality is concerned. As for the markets – yes, OUP did a nice job of establishing a second market with the reduced-type version, especially the book club sales. >> with the experience of selling the … OED1 at a much higher price, they have obviously some objective basis for their idea … << My feeling is, this is just the point where they're going astray – the OED1, like the "full size" print version, sold mostly to the library and institutional markets – quite a few colleges, for instance, have it mounted on systems accessible by students. Without spending a couple of hours with my calculator, I'd hazard a guess that the price differential between the full size print version and the OED2 ROM is mostly a reflection of costs. I'd further guess that OUP sees the traditional markets for the full-size print version as being the same markets it will sell most of the ROM version into, with both yielding similar per-unit revenue. For better or for worse, OUP is handling a product with mass-market potential as a specialty item: high unit pricing, relatively narrow distribution, minimal publicity. In this approach, production costs, as you say, "may not be entirely irrelevant" – I imagine they are quite relevant, because of the number of units they need to be spread across. I'm sure OUP is happy with the way they're handling the product; as a consumer who will reluctantly pay the ticket, I'm not. As an ex-publisher (21 years as a director of a major, multinational magazine and book publisher), I would handle the CD-ROM quite differently, and would be pretty confident of producing a much better bottom-line yield than the current price/sales strategy will do. You're right, I certainly did not mean to imply that "what the market will bear" considerations no longer apply in the electronics era. It is true they still apply; it is equally true they are a dangerous way to run a business – profitable short term, risky in the long haul. Ric