@rdl
I wish also it were less expensive, but most of the hardcover university books are expensive, in contrast to some of the books more aimed towards a general audience like "Practical electronics for inventors" which you can get for 23.5$.
The second edition of AOE is listed 130.7 $ at amazon.com which is larger than
the third edition at 110 $ . The increase that you mention probably just reflects the general increase of living, or maybe you did not get the
original hardcover edition (I got an Indian edition at a very low price).
If you look to the list of University recent hardcover books in electronics, ranked by "new and popular" on amazon.com, you find in the first ranks.
200$ :Electric Circuits (10th Edition)Jan 19, 2014 by James W. Nilsson and Susan Riedel
89.41$ :Signal and Power Integrity - Simplified (2nd Edition)Jul 27, 2009 by Eric Bogatin
163.74$ : Electronics Fundamentals: Circuits, Devices & Applications (8th Edition)Jul 3, 2009 by Thomas L. Floyd and David M. Buchla
185.74$ : Microelectronic Circuits (Oxford Series in Electrical & Comp. Eng.)Dec 15, 2009 by Adel S. Sedra and Kenneth C. Smith
You can wait for a cheaper softcover edition, but if you did not take any benefit from the second edition, there
is probably very little chance you will find the third edition useful.