Earlier today I emailed two of the members of this research team (one in the U.S., and one in Germany) to try to clarify exactly how that list of features was presented to the respondents, and how they were instructed to respond. No response yet, but, if I do get a clarifying response, I’ll add it to this post.

I admit, though, that there ought to be a number of ereader owners who are VERY price conscious. After all, there’s a strong argument to be made that an ereader could save you money over time, especially for someone who likes to read the very newest books. Hardcovers still cost significantly more than ebooks, right? And there’s Gutenberg and Overdrive–it’s definitely possible to get books for free, which only improves that equation. But I’m going to go out on a limb, here, and suggest that the average person probably would not look at an ereader and understand that, over time, its price will be offset by the cost of cheaper bestsellers. More people than you think would look at the $150 cost and say “no way.” We just don’t intuitively think that way–that kind of mental math is a learned trait.

So… of budget-conscious consumers of ereaders, right now, I would say there are very few, proportionally, and they tend to be fairly sophisticated. Perhaps those people are the only reason libraries rank in the survey at all.