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Originally Posted by SensualPoet
It wouldn't be the first time this author, David Carnoy, has written a load of rubbish about e-books and e-readers.
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Uh.... Y'know, not really sure why you're bashing this article. (I can't say anything about his other articles though.)
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Originally Posted by SensualPoet
He goes on to value each time this is downloaded as a $10,000 loss.
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No, he doesn't. In fact, he asks, and I quote: "Even if I missed out on selling 200 e-books, that's a mere $100. No big deal, right?"
He is more pointing out that a massive number of ebooks can be downloaded in the same time frame as downloading a single movie. Why
wouldn't that concern the industry?
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Originally Posted by SensualPoet
At best, downloads like these may result in a small handful of books being read "for free" by any given user. At best, this is "free marketing" vs. lost revenue for the authors and publishers.
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Guess what, he mentions that too: "[piracy] won't cost me much now--and it may even help me find a few readers who might not have read my book." (Though he does go on to state that in the long run it probably won't be beneficial, if the problem is not addressed.)
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Originally Posted by SensualPoet
The "the sky is falling" clique who worry about piracy and inevitably dredge up mp3 experience completely miss the point that companies like Amazon, Kobo, Sony Store, Waterstones, B&N and others are here right at the beginning, unlike iTunes which arrived two decades after CDs were launched and at least a decade after trivial ripping tools existed. There is simply no comparison in the markets.
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Pardon me whilst my head spins 360º
I agree there are several structural differences between digital music and ebooks, one being that as you point out, huge swaths of back catalog books have not been released in a DRM-free digital form.
However, considering that it is possible to strip the DRM on an ebook and release it to the wilds of the Internet, this might slow down piracy but is hardly guaranteed to choke it out of existence.
I also don't think he's hauling off with the nuclear option either. The worst he says is in quoting Scott Turow ("we need to make sure piracy is dealt with effectively") and "in the long run, it could really hurt." I'd view that as much more of a measured response than Chicken Little expressed.
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Originally Posted by SensualPoet
... he has entered fairytale land. Systems like Amazon's Kindle ecosystem and others have put in place to make being a legit purchaser and readers of ebooks easy and economical will ensure that "50% of the market" will NOT disappear.
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He isn't saying that "50% of the market will disappear." He's saying that many people believe that 50% of the book market will consist of ebook sales in 5 years.
He also goes on to say that he doesn't know what the solution is -- only that the industry is facing a potentially serious issue, especially since unlike musicians, authors don't have a real alternate revenue stream from their works.
I don't necessarily agree with everything he's saying, but he really doesn't seem to be screaming bloody murder and demonizing the pirates. You may want to re-read the article carefully, as it's a bit more moderate than you credit.