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Let's face it: the ebook market is FUBAR, thanks to pure greed
johnk:
Exactly where on this planet are you going to find a democracy if I may be so bold?
I didn't know any actually existed. :)
-40hz (February 07, 2011, 07:41 PM)
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Now we really are going off topic! I meant democracy in the modern, practical sense. Definition:
The option occasionally, through an election, to replace one set of self-serving members of the plutocracy with another.
Renegade:
Customers? What do the bleedin' customer desires have to do with anything anymore? ;D :P
-40hz (February 07, 2011, 10:58 AM)
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Sigh... Nothing. :(
I stopped buying any movies/shows through iTunes as it's simply not worth it. It's often cheaper to buy a DVD set at retail in the store and have a physical copy. I'm still hosed with DRM, but crappy DRM that barely works, which is better than Apple's DRM that actually works. So, better broken defective by design than simply defective by design. :tellme:
Books at retail here are insanely expensive. I've seen books that are 3x the USD price, putting them well over $100. More often they are about 2x the USD price. For those prices you should get a free <insert rudeness here />.
So it makes more sense to buy an ebook, print it, then bind it myself. It's kind of sucky, but better than being violated at retail.
The books I buy are all more expensive though. The cheapest are around $50 USD, with most in the $60~80 USD range, but some well above that. I got a fantastic deal on one book for only $150 USD (US prices ordered through Amazon). So buying those at retail here is simply out of the question.
What I would like to see is getting a digital copy along with the printed copy. For a $50 USD book, I'd pay $70 or $75 to get both. That's reasonable.
The thing I want most is to not be blatantly violated. But like you said... What do customer desires matter?
Paul Keith:
Now we really are going off topic! I meant democracy in the modern, practical sense. Definition:
The option occasionally, through an election, to replace one set of self-serving members of the plutocracy with another.
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Just to go further off-topic: I don't really believe you can change anything in a democracy and hence I agree. Democracies exist in this world. Even if you don't believe in the rigged voting system, believe in Facebook likes and Digg up-votes. :P
Republics however, I don't think they exist in any large scale anymore. The largest Republic I've seen is Hacker News.
xtabber:
What I would like to see is getting a digital copy along with the printed copy. For a $50 USD book, I'd pay $70 or $75 to get both. That's reasonable.
-Renegade (February 07, 2011, 08:00 PM)
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O'Reilly does this. You can register any print book published by them that you own and if it is available as an ebook, buy that for an additional $4.99. That includes most titles from MS Press. All their ebooks are DRM-free and if there are multiple formats (pdf, ePub, mobi), they are all included in the price.
It would be nice if other publishers would operate this way, but I wouldn't hold my breath.
Publishing is the original venture capitalism (dating from the 15th century) and the mentality of publishers is generally the same as any other venture capitalists.
zridling:
Exactly where on this planet are you going to find a democracy if I may be so bold? I didn't know any actually existed. -40hz (February 07, 2011, 07:41 PM)
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Of course this only assumes those who believe in the market also believe that we exist in a free market... (with no government bail-outs/global plans to censor the internet/intentional worsening of depressions to temporary stave off a more noticeable recession...)-Paul Keith (February 07, 2011, 12:34 PM)
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Reminds me of this line :mad::
Choice is an illusion created by those with power for those without.
-- Merovingian, The Matrix Reloaded (2003)
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