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This study seeks to assess the extent to which die digital book market is structuring independently from the print edition market by comparing the pricing of 559 digital and print French and American bestsellers during 2011. Two pricing methods are distinguished: "homothetic pricing," where the digital pricing is a reflection of the print pricing, and "heterothetic pricing," where the digital price is set according to new rules. The French and American markets do not have the same propensity to overcome the pricing practices in the print book market: While the French market's e-book structure is mirroring that of the print book industry, die American market tends to be more independent. This can be explained by die significant structural, legal, and institutional differences between the publishing industries of both countries. In addition, some factors favor die "heterothetic" pricing method: the number of pages and the type of book influence the degree of differentiation between print and digital prices of the same title [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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The article presents the report of a seminar that was held in Bordeaux, France, at the 4e Journée Couperin, in 2008, and discusses the change that is slowly happening along with the apparition of the electronic book in libraries. The need of students for this new product, as they are more and more equipped with digital objects, the apprehension of publishers who see a threat to paper book sales, are themes studied in the article.