What if Barnes & Noble bought MobileRead?

[Kumabjorn]

This is essentially brought about Amazon's purchase of Goodreads. Assuming Barnes & Noble would want to respond to that purchase by having their own community of active readers and ardent book lovers, but building that community would take way too long and require a lot of resources so instead they go for the quick and easy by making an offer on MobileRead. What would your reaction be?

[alanHd]

It would be the Death of another great site. But i dont think it fits their business model, so i would think we are safe.

[latepaul]

Amazon bought Goodreads not for the community but for the data it collected. There's a big fat database of "people who like X also like Y". In theory Mobileread forum posts have some of that sort of data but getting it out would be painful.

B&N would be better off buying one of the other cataloging/reviewing sites or starting their own.

[fjtorres]

Originally Posted by latepaul

Amazon bought Goodreads not for the community but for the data it collected. There's a big fat database of "people who like X also like Y". In theory Mobileread forum posts have some of that sort of data but getting it out would be painful.

B&N would be better off buying one of the other cataloging/reviewing sites or starting their own.

Exactly.
Amazon is getting Goodreads for its Market Research value.
B&N and the BPHs are more focused on Marketting than in market research.

As in: Market research is about finding out what consumers like/want/need so you can provide it, whereas Marketting is about convincing people to buy what you are already providing.
It's the difference between Goodreads and Bookish (and Author Solutions).

Besides, B&N can't buy Mobileread: Amazon already bought it a year ago today.

https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sho...d.php?t=173986

[hidari]

Some MR members would leave...

[Ken Maltby]

Hmm... is April Fool's Day an international tradition?

Isn't Amazon a US corporation? Wouldn't their ownership effect a number of factors
that have an impact on MR's operations? The difference in copyright laws alone...

Luck;
Ken

[fjtorres]

Originally Posted by Ken Maltby

Hmm... is April Fool's Day an international tradition?

Apparently:
http://www.ibtimes.com/april-fools-d...-world-1163461

In France, those who are fooled are called “poisson d’avril” (April fish) and it’s common for pranksters to pin a cardboard fish onto a person’s back. The fish may come from an early Christian symbol for Jesus Christ or be related to the zodiac sign of Pisces.

Scotland calls April 1 “Gowkie Day” named after the gowk or cuckoo bird that represents the fool and the cuckold – which might mean the holiday has some sexual underpinning. Sticking “kick me” signs to friends’ backs is a popular prank.

In Iraq the day is called “Kithbet Neesan” (April lie). Like the Western tradition, friends and family play jokes on each other.

[Joseph R]

Originally Posted by Ken Maltby

Hmm... is April Fool's Day an international tradition?

Isn't Amazon a US corporation? Wouldn't their ownership effect a number of factors
that have an impact on MR's operations? The difference in copyright laws alone...

Luck;
Ken

As per Posting Guidelines:

"EBooks uploaded to this site must be legally uploaded under Canadian law, as the server is hosted in Canada. It is up to the individual to determine whether any particular eBook on MobileRead is legal to download in their country."

This serve is located somewhere in Canada. Canada has its own set of laws concerning Copyrights which differs from its powerful Southern neighbor.

From the Wiki FAQ:

"Copyright length in the US is a lot more complicated than elsewhere. Roughly, if published before 1923 it's in the public domain. If published between 1923 and 1963 inclusive, it might be in the public domain. If published during or after 1964 it is not in public domain. No more works will enter the public domain in the US until 1st January 2019. http://www.copyright.cornell.edu/res...blicdomain.cfm gives more details.


Copyright in Canada is currently lifetime+50 years; Copyright elsewhere is mostly lifetime+70 years.

IANAL, however, Canada has sets of laws to protect its "culture", through an agency called the CRTC: http://www.crtc.gc.ca/eng/home-accueil.htm .

Any attempt to seize Canadian cultural based-IP would require an approval for that board. MR hosts and allows uploads of people's work, in the E-book Upload Section. As such, any attempt to access or seize MR IP would properly require the CRTC approval, in my opinion.

[soulfuldog]

Scotland calls April 1 “Gowkie Day” named after the gowk or cuckoo bird that represents the fool and the cuckold – which might mean the holiday has some sexual underpinning. Sticking “kick me” signs to friends’ backs is a popular prank.

Not it doesn't?! Maybe hundreds of years ago it was, but ask the average person in any street in Scotland what Gowkie Day and they probably wouldn't have a clue what you were talking about. I've heard of a gowk stone but that's about it....

Back on topic though, B&N to buy MR, that would have been a terrific April Fools Day story for mobileread to have put on the front page!

[GlenBarrington]

Just askin'

[David Munch]

Free eBooks for everyone!

[caleb72]

Other than getting some pretty damn nicely formatted public domain ebooks, I can't see what value MR would add to any of these companies.

Having said that, I don't know if anyone is interested in music forums, but KvR - possibly the most popular computer music forum was eventually subsumed into a company. If there was a purchase price involved, I doubt it was anywhere near the figure Amazon paid for GoodReads though.

KvR Link

[crich70]

Odder things have happened. Yahoo bought the app named Summly from it's 17 yr old developer for a reported $30 million bucks not long ago.