03-23-2011, 08:50 PM | #436 |
Evangelist
Posts: 435
Karma: 24326
Join Date: Jun 2010
Device: Kobo
|
I'm going to agree for sure that some people are collectors. I've got shelves and shelves of books that I've bought over decades so I understand the motivation.
Although I gather that it's been discussed in other threads, I'd have to say that I've got a fair amount of doubt that any significant proportion of readers is rereading a substantial amount of their collection on a regular basis multiple times. I can see having a small portion that get reread, no problem, and I do that myself. But I'd be willing to bet that 95% of books that 90% of the avid readers are reading is new (to them) content. I'm lucky enough that I work within an easy walk of about 4 good used book stores, so for me I would only ever buy a new book if it was unavailable in any of those used stores first. Which means it would have to be something very specific, and a little out of the mainstream. Which further means that the overwhelming majority of my reading was done with books that somebody else read once, possibly lent to their friends and then ditched. And if they were cheap like me, they bought it used too. I'd classify myself as an avid reader. Probably reading in the range of 100 books a year. I have never seen an economic advantage in picking up one of the loyalty cards from the biggest new book chain in Canada, which gives 10% off on all purchases after dropping $30 for the card. Why? Because there's no way I'd be buying even the 25 of those 100 books, which would be the break-even point on the card, as new books. So to me, easy transfer of a pbook from person to person has been a crucial part of the reading experience in the past. For publishers to expect to use the new media as a way to choke off that channel so that every single piece of new content every reader reads comes from the publisher as a new sale at a price the same as a pbook really annoys me. To me, that's what agency pricing and DRM seem to be trying to do. Honestly, I'd be happy if ebooks were "sold" as a single read rental for a buck or two a shot. At a rate like that, even books that I read 5 or 6 times over my life would still come out as a wash with buying a pbook and holding on to it. |
03-23-2011, 08:54 PM | #437 |
Evangelist
Posts: 435
Karma: 24326
Join Date: Jun 2010
Device: Kobo
|
How about this: A rule that says that DRM has to be returnable/revocable for a refund of 80% of the original sale price?
|
Advert | |
|
03-23-2011, 09:44 PM | #438 | ||
Grand Sorcerer
Posts: 7,345
Karma: 52398889
Join Date: Oct 2010
Device: Kindle Fire, Kindle Paperwhite, AGPTek Bluetooth Clip
|
Quote:
Quote:
DRM issues--lost access, bookstores going out of business or discontinuing support for a format, inability to move books to a different device--none of that should be a concern for someone who reads only once. Sounds like you'd be happy to read books in the cloud, for that matter. I have a totally different mindset. I bought it, I own it, I keep it. Once I've paid for the book, it's up to whether I want to use it or not. DRM interferes with that use. |
||
03-23-2011, 11:22 PM | #439 | |
DRM hater
Posts: 945
Karma: 2066176
Join Date: Jun 2010
Location: Michigan
Device: Nook ST glow, Kindle Voyage
|
Quote:
It's charging purchase price, and pretending it is ownership, while effectively turning into a rental with DRM that aggravates me. |
|
03-24-2011, 12:15 AM | #440 |
Evangelist
Posts: 435
Karma: 24326
Join Date: Jun 2010
Device: Kobo
|
|
Advert | |
|
03-24-2011, 01:08 AM | #441 | |
Wizard
Posts: 4,538
Karma: 264065402
Join Date: Jun 2009
Location: Taiwan
Device: HP Touchpad, Sony Duo 13, Lumia 920, Kobo Aura HD
|
Quote:
If you really just want to read it once and then get rid of it, why don't you check out the ebook from a library and pay nothing? |
|
03-24-2011, 01:42 AM | #442 | ||
Grand Sorcerer
Posts: 5,185
Karma: 25133758
Join Date: Nov 2008
Location: SF Bay Area, California, USA
Device: Pocketbook Touch HD3 (Past: Kobo Mini, PEZ, PRS-505, Clié)
|
Quote:
Several authors are making a fortune on $1-4 ebooks. Most of them are relatively unknown outside of ebook circles. Why should we believe that big-name authors need to sell at more than that to make similar fortunes? Quote:
|
||
03-24-2011, 05:09 AM | #443 |
Wizard
Posts: 4,538
Karma: 264065402
Join Date: Jun 2009
Location: Taiwan
Device: HP Touchpad, Sony Duo 13, Lumia 920, Kobo Aura HD
|
Then I am asking you, what would happen to their pbook business? They would also have to sell those for extremely low amounts (or nobody would buy them) -- and they would all go out of business. Sounds great for users, but publishers and book sellers could not operate this way.
Such low prices can only work for a self publishing author with sales on the web only. Or as a promotion. The costs incurred to make one additional unit is totally irrelevant for the pricing of digital goods. Besides, why should we care about costs, what matters is how much are we willing to pay and is anyone willing to sell at that price. For the publisher the point is, total sales volume has to be high enough to cover development, production, distribution costs AND to make a reasonable profit. Even for ebooks there are distribution costs such as advertising. We can go on and on about "ebooks cost virtually nothing to make", what does it matter if nobody is willing to sell them for next to nothing? Last edited by HansTWN; 03-24-2011 at 05:12 AM. |
03-24-2011, 06:02 AM | #444 | |
DRM hater
Posts: 945
Karma: 2066176
Join Date: Jun 2010
Location: Michigan
Device: Nook ST glow, Kindle Voyage
|
Quote:
This is NOT ownership, but an extended-length rental of indeterminate length. Basically, you can only use the item as long as the DRM doesn't have a problem, and there is a remote customer support to fix it (or a remote server to redownload a newer version). DRM is quite likely to stop working eventually. Try talking to the people that depended on Microsoft's PlaysForSure / Music store, or one of the other ebook stores that have failed. This is bad enough, but along with that you also cannot resell it, cannot even give it away. More traits of ownership removed by DRM. BTW: the nearest Overdrive library for me is 60 miles away. We're a city of 40,000 people, along with a couple of slightly bigger cities in the area. No one nearby has overdrive. Last edited by GreenMonkey; 03-24-2011 at 06:09 AM. |
|
03-24-2011, 07:03 AM | #445 |
Feral Underclass
Posts: 3,622
Karma: 26821535
Join Date: Jan 2010
Location: Yorkshire, tha noz
Device: 2nd hand paperback
|
|
03-24-2011, 07:36 AM | #446 | |
Grand Sorcerer
Posts: 7,452
Karma: 7185064
Join Date: Oct 2007
Location: Linköpng, Sweden
Device: Kindle Voyage, Nexus 5, Kindle PW
|
Quote:
And you cannot trust that a book will be sold when you want to re-read it so re-buying is not a good option. |
|
03-24-2011, 07:43 AM | #447 |
The Dank Side of the Moon
Posts: 35,872
Karma: 118716293
Join Date: Sep 2009
Location: Denver, CO
Device: Kindle2; Kindle Fire
|
I think I better re-read that post...
|
03-24-2011, 08:42 AM | #448 | |
Grand Sorcerer
Posts: 27,547
Karma: 193191846
Join Date: Jan 2010
Device: Nexus 7, Kindle Fire HD
|
Quote:
|
|
03-24-2011, 09:20 AM | #449 |
The Dank Side of the Moon
Posts: 35,872
Karma: 118716293
Join Date: Sep 2009
Location: Denver, CO
Device: Kindle2; Kindle Fire
|
|
03-24-2011, 09:29 AM | #450 | |
Wizard
Posts: 2,888
Karma: 5875940
Join Date: Dec 2007
Device: PRS505, 600, 350, 650, Nexus 7, Note III, iPad 4 etc
|
Have to disagree with your estimate on re-reading but that could just be my entire circle of reading friends and thus anecdotal but certainly lower than 95% new to them.
But 100 books a year may make you an above average reader but wouldn't qualify as avid by my (and my friends') standards... that comes in more like 50-75 per quarter... and most of those are new purchases, many in hardback... Quote:
|
|
|
Similar Threads | ||||
Thread | Thread Starter | Forum | Replies | Last Post |
Free (Kindle) Reaching people under 40 while keeping people over 60 (Christian) | arcadata | Deals and Resources (No Self-Promotion or Affiliate Links) | 0 | 10-17-2010 07:58 AM |
ExoPC and will people consider other options because of DRM constraints | timezone | General Discussions | 7 | 06-01-2010 01:56 PM |
Found another DRM vs no DRM picture on the Net | Krystian Galaj | News | 29 | 03-18-2010 06:25 AM |
ShineBook Mobile eBook Reader announced in Germany, reads both DRM-prc + DRM-ePub ... | K-Thom | News | 11 | 12-12-2009 06:50 AM |