Pre-Loaded Audio and Video Players

OK - so I realize I absolutely must spend less time on Amazon and less time trying to find more time to read more books.  But I did find something new on Amazon earlier today and did a little digging.  Apparently, there's a new way of enjoying books and movies via "pre-loaded" digital book and video players.  In other words, you don't buy content and download it to an MP3 device, but rather you buy hardware (a player) pre-loaded with the content you want.  There's a company that sells a whole catalog of audio and video products this way.  But I don't understand the marketing/pricing.  A popular novel costs around $50 to $60 in this format and it's not clear to me whether the device can ever be re-used to play other content or whether you have to buy a new hard copy device for each book (or movie).  If so, this is a pretty expensive pricing model.  Even a hardcover new release book only costs $20 to $30.  So I'm not 100% sure who the market is for these products and whether the manufacturers are pricing themselves out of the market anyway.  With so many models available for listening to and viewing content relatively cheaply and flexibly, it's hard to understand where this one will fit in.

Comments

[Jessica Owley]

My old library had these (audio) and I didn't like them. The sounds quality isn't great and it is hard to rewind if you want to relisten to sections. I am surprised that they cost so much!

[Jacqui Lipton]

Interesting that the technology isn't that good anyway. I really wonder how anyone thinks they're going to make money out of this? I can see that libraries might lend them out instead of hard copy books, but if they cost so much, I can't see libraries being all that interested - unless the library price is a lot lower than the consumer price.