Quote:
Originally Posted by stonetools
Google doesn't quite have the whole model yet. They still have to tweak the HTML 5.0 code so as to allow offline reading of an ebook without a continuous connection. They were already almost there with Google Gears, so they are clearly working on it.They ( or someone) will probably have the problem licked soon.
Once they do, I expect they will roll out a cloud subscription model pretty soon. (They may be planning to do it concurrently with their music subscription service, which most people expect later this year).
I think Amazon and Apple are likely to do something in this space too. I'm pretty sure that at least some publishers would be 100 percent behind them.
The issue is not whether the folks on MR will like this model . ( Apparently the MR gods have decreed that there is only one model that the publishers can offer -offer a downloadable, DRM free copy of an ebook without any effective precautions to prevent theft,or "unauthorized copying", as MRers euphemistically call it) 
What I see is publishers offering several different models. They might push the cloud subscription model hardest, since it affords authors and publishers the most protection, which is apparently anathema to the anti DRM true believers. The average customer will decide which model they like- much to the apprehension of the true believers, since they may prefer the "wrong" model.
If the cloud subscription model offers a smoother, better experience than the "download and possess" model, that's what will prevail. Netflix did this in movies and Rhapsody, etc has done it in music. It is entirely possible that SOMEONE can do this in ebooks. |
I'll be going on vacation soon for 5 days. Most of that time I will not have net access. How can I access cloud based eBook to read while on vacation? I can't. That's how. So what will happen is I will have nothing to read as my eBooks sit on some server I cannot access. Also, if I was to be reading cloud stored eBooks on my iPhone, I'd be decreasing the battery as I would have to keep 3G or wifi on while reading. Overall, I see cloud based eBooks as a big failure. I do go places that I won't have net access. So cloud access won't always work for me. Cloud access also means I do not have the eBook locally so I am stuck with however the publishers want to format the eBooks. So if they do a poor job, I am stuck with it like that or I don't read it. I do not want to read an eBook that has paragraph spaces. It takes me out of the book and ruins the reading experience. I don't care what some companies have done. I care what works for me and what works for me is not something that gives me spotty access and maybe poorly formatted reading material.
As far as using the cloud to store eBooks, I would expect eventually someone to come up with a program that would "read" the eBooks off the cloud and save it locally so we have the eBooks in a file. There goes the clouds supposed protection. The more a publisher wants to lock content that I have paid for, the more I want to let it go free to anyone who wants it. The more a publisher removes the locks, the more I don't want to let the content go free. And yes, the locks do cause more piracy then you think. People don't want the locks so they go on the net and find the eBooks without the locks. Then because they find it easy to do, they get more eBooks that way. If the locks were not there in the first place, you don't get as many people going to find the eBooks without the locks and thus, they don't stay for more. I blame any increase in piracy on the publishers.