With the back-to-school season in full force, we reached an early milestone when we received our first Scholastic Book Club order form. Of course, reading is a worthwhile endeavor. But, how does Scholastic compare to Amazon?

Llama Llama Home with Mama sells for $9.89 at Amazon, but $12.00 at Scholastic. Both are the hardback editions.

The older Llama Llama Red Pajama is unavailable directly from Amazon, but Scholastic sells it in paperback for $4.00.

Stuck in the Mud (Thomas & Friends) sells for $3.99 from Amazon, and $4.00 from Scholastic.

Where Scholastic comes ahead is when Amazon only sells the hardcover edition. For example, Amazon only offers the hardcover edition of If You Give a Cat a Cupcake (If You Give… Books), which it sells for $9.99. Scholastic sells a paperback edition for $4.00.

So, Amazon has the better selection by far. However, where Amazon no longer has a book in print or only offers a hardcover edition, Scholastic may be a better buy if it has a paperback edition for sale.

Amazon sells the Adobe Creative Suite 4 Web Premium
for $1,495.00. The Mac version, for some reason, costs $1,515. Upgrade pricing is $569.99 / $577.99 (Mac).

But, SoftwareMedia.com has the CS4 Web Premium for $699.00. That’s not an upgrade price, but the price for the full web premium suite. Curiously, the upgrade price is $460.00 / $659.00 (Mac). For the Mac upgrade, I’m surprised by the $200 spread, as well as the $40 difference between the upgrade and full price. Pretty amazing considering that Adobe Photoshop CS4 sells for $579.99.

Amazon sells LeapFrog’s Letter Factory, Let’s Go to School and Talking Words Factory
DVDs for $8.49 a piece. At 43% off the $14.98 list price, it looks like a bargain. But, I just spotted the same 3 DVDs at Costco selling for $5.99 per DVD, or 60% off the list price. Sure, Costco’s DVD selections are limited and the stock constantly changes, but if Costco is carrying a DVD that you want, take a closer look.