Advances in short-run or POD printing are making it more likely that something like this could happen, and there are alternative methods for presenting the code to a buyer, which some smaller publishers are working on. The best arrangement, at present, is to offer eBooks bundled with purchases made direct from the publisher (which is, I think, what O’Reilly does, and what we do at Candlemark & Gleam) – it benefits the publisher most, offers some degree of control over the download going to the actual purchaser, and gives the reader the book they’ve purchased to read in whatever format they choose. Works for me.

Luckily, my son is only three years old so he’s still young enough to train and I’m making progress with my wife (who loves to read real books). On the Pratchett subject, books like the Unseen Library collection (do an image search) are just such wonderful collector’s pieces that you’d never get in the ebook world. All that kind of ongoing value is just lost.

That said, I do often wish that physical books came with a free ebook (even if it was watermarked ala O’Reilly) so that I could have the book to read and have the ebook for the odd occasion I’m trying to search something. I don’t see why companies don’t do it – I’ve already bought the book, so it is not like they’re too likely to get an ebook sale out of me as well. Also, they’ve already covered their author and advertising fees (which I’ve been told is the reason the prices don’t differ much – apparently).