Main Area and Open Discussion > Living Room
Why ebooks are bad for you
Renegade:
I remember reading some stats for magazines -- they typically have 3 or 4 people read them before they are thrown out. Some magazines have as many as 8 or more people read them. (Individual copies that is.)
40hz:
I think it comes down to an attempt by the publishing industry to reposition their product and change the definition of what a book is.
Under the old paper system, books are 'objects,' or 'artifacts' or 'products.' In most societies, once an object is purchased, ownership passes to the purchaser.
Under the new electronic format, books are now considered just another form of intellectual property, and are therefor licensed for use rather than sold.
It's a subtle distinction but a very real one. And since the desire to redefine a book is primarily driven by profit motives, it's a debate that's unlikely to get resolved amicably.
In some respects the e-book publishers are smart in tying their product to an access device. The thing that is killing the recording industry is their inability to restrict the use of their product because the playback devices and technologies are widely distributed and non-proprietary. The large publishers that are selling digital editions seem determined not to let that happen to them.
Unfortunately, attempting to restrict access by requiring a proprietary device has been tried in the past. And it failed miserably. Early record players all used their own format. A Victorola 78 record would not work on a different brand player. And this was done mostly in an attempt to lock in the customer's downstream purchases to a specific brand of player.
But while this did provide certain short-term benefits to the companies making the players, it also hurt the industry as a whole since it made people reluctant to buy an expensive record player without some assurance it would be able to play any recording they wanted to purchase. It also hurt the artists since they were locked into a specific manufacturer's device. And those same manufacturers took advantage of the situation by offering lower payments to artists if theirs was the most popular player.
It wasn't until "open" formats like the standard 33 and 45 vinyl records came out that the entire industry really took off and everybody came out ahead. It was a win for the artists, the recording companies, the equipment manufacturers - and the customers. And all because they dropped their proprietary and restrictive formats.
Stoic Joker:
The only thing "killing" the recording industry is their insistence on pouring billions of dollars into trying to figure out how best to stick people with a crippled product.
If they really want to constantly waste that much of their profits they should go back to snorting them off of coffee tables.
Like in the 80s ... Sure the music sucked...but it was fun...
40hz:
I think the recording industry has realized they've lost the battle, hence the new emphasis on network filtering, voluntary censorship, and policing the internet we're hearing so much about these days.
What makes this interesting is that along with all the justifications for expanded powers and "cooperation" (in order to prevent terrorist activity, cyberattacks, and that perennial favorite demon - child pornography) is what's found hidden in the fine print and subtext. Most notably protection for "intellectual properties" which on further reading seems to be largely confined to pop music recordings and big-budget motion pictures.
Also interesting is how individual privacy, consumer protection and compensation for corporate negligence when it involves breaches of their own IT security, and restrictions on the gathering and sharing of personal information between companies is never mentioned - or is given token mention. If it even gets that much.
Brave new world indeed. :tellme:
zridling:
I've had a kindle for a long while now and I have bought maybe 2 books from Amazon. I use Calibre to convert from other formats like pdf. epub, rtf, text etc etc to mobi then load them on the Kindle when I want them. If you haven't seen Calibre then you must! It is first class software and free, but welcomes contributions. It also has Plug-ins that make managing the Kindle a breeze.-elvisbrown (June 13, 2011, 05:59 AM)
--- End quote ---
Calibre is great -- multi-platform open source software. I also agree the Kindle is remarkable and I'm glad Jeff Bezos stuck with it. Unlike the iPod, however, soon Kindles will likely be given away for "free" if you agree to buy 10 books with it or something. The big fat problem with Kindle is a word I dislike most when it comes to formats: proprietary. As 40hz writes above:
It wasn't until "open" formats like the standard 33 and 45 vinyl records came out that the entire industry really took off and everybody came out ahead. It was a win for the artists, the recording companies, the equipment manufacturers - and the customers. And all because they dropped their proprietary and restrictive formats.
One last thing about books. I agree with most things said previously about real, books but consider this. I can buy a book then pass it on and it gets passed on etc etc with as many as let's say 100 readers. What does the author get for that? She/he certainly doesn't get 100 payments. If there is an upside to DRM it is that authors will get better paid for their work. As a reader I say that's bloody good, it means that good authors will get rewarded more.-elvisbrown (June 13, 2011, 05:59 AM)
--- End quote ---
I understand the sentiment, but if more people reading your book made you broke, then romance writers would have died off decades ago. Those paperbacks get traded and passed back and forth for a generation or more! Also, if you're in the book-writing business to make money, being an author is the wrong end of it. Prolific and popular tech writers are by no means millionaires. Maybe a few, but most aren't. Like records anymore, if you sell a half million copies, you're wildly successful. But after taxes, the profit from those copies are extremely disappointing.
From the place that shakes and shakes with endless quakes...peace from Christchurch NZ-elvisbrown (June 13, 2011, 05:59 AM)
--- End quote ---
Sat through my first baby earthquake last week (3.4) after living through tornado hell, and it was very weird. Unlike a sonic boom, the ground rumbled from deep and upward, as if the Earth was cutting a long, rumbling fart. Cannot imagine what ChristChurch felt like. Here are a few photos from that week:
http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2011/02/christchurch_earthquake.html
Navigation
[0] Message Index
[#] Next page
[*] Previous page
Go to full version