Why do digital books cost so much, sometimes more than a hardcopy?
1) They don't. the cost of production of a hardcopy book - even if you only order one single on-demand copy, is $1 - 3 for paperback, maybe $5 - 10 for hardcopy or colour. For production runs if thousands it is even less.
Digital books don't have a zero cost of production. We're IT people, we know better than that. The infrastructure and staff for a secure ecommerce site costs a fortune, I'd say a lot MORE than a printing press and a warehouse.
So I think we're lucky that ebooks cost as little as they do :)