Nothing has really changed

[taming]

When I was a kidlet, I borrowed The Blue Fairy Book from the library, but used my allowance to buy the latest Nancy Drew mysteries. When I was in high school, I borrowed John Steinbeck, but purchased (and hid) Alex Comfort’s The Joy of Sex. I bought new books, used books, hardcover and paperback. I haunted our local bookstores and visited others when I traveled.

I had to balance my book-lust, my impatience, and my budget.

Nothing has changed, except now almost all the books I read for pleasure are purchased over the web and downloaded. I still must make the same decisions: do I get it hot off the press (perhaps paying more), wait for a cheaper edition, borrow from the library, or simply pass on it and read something else until the object of my desire becomes available to me at a price I can afford.

I didn’t think I was entitled to set the price of what I bought in 1960 and I don’t think I am entitled to determine the price I will pay now. What I did have the power to do was refuse to buy something I thought overpriced. I’m sure that there were many times I could have slipped a book I wanted into my coat pocket and gotten away with it. Other people did it all the time.

I didn’t do it then, and I won’t do the equivalent now. I buy my books, use my library card, and I wait.

[GeoffC]

One change, perhaps, is that the book could be sourced and delivered from anywhere in the World; but now the e-versions can (and are) geographically restricted and you have to wear a particular model of spectacles ( ) to read some of them ....

[mr ploppy]

The only real difference for a lot of people is that the internet has taken the place of the library, and is treated as such.

[taming]

Originally Posted by GeoffC

One change, perhaps, is that the book could be sourced and delivered from anywhere in the World; but now the e-versions can (and are) geographically restricted and you have to wear a particular model of spectacles ( ) to read some of them ....

Not really. No inter-library loan back then and the stores sold what the stores sold. A special order book was perhaps available, if carried by one of their regular suppliers, but otherwise, not so much. Having an e-reader does not prevent me from doing anything analog I could always do.

[mr ploppy]

Originally Posted by taming

Having an e-reader does not prevent me from doing anything analog I could always do.

You can read samples without having to get dressed or having shop owners sigh at you every few seconds.

[GeoffC]

Originally Posted by taming

Not really. No inter-library loan back then and the stores sold what the stores sold. A special order book was perhaps available, if carried by one of their regular suppliers, but otherwise, not so much. Having an e-reader does not prevent me from doing anything analog I could always do.

In the UK there are inter-library loans if you are patient enough.

I still contend that geographic restriction is a new (irritatingly so) issue (at least for me).

[FlorenceArt]

Yes, geo restrictions are frustrating, immensely so, but I do think the number of books available to me has increased (and the average price decreased). The main difference is that what is unavailable to me (but available to others) is painfully visible.

In the past, I purchased English language books at a few international bookshops, and I was restricted to their selection and had to pay their price. I never thought of it as a restriction, but now I do. And I can still go to these bookshops, but I have grown too lazy to do so. I'd rather get frustrated at all the books available - but not to me.

I think we've become rather spoiled

[taming]

I am not, by any means, saying that we should not advocate for the removal of barriers like geographic restrictions and DRM. I think we should be writing to Publishers, our elected representatives, and voting with our wallet. Currently there is a bill before the Canadian Parliament (Bill C-32) that probably will, when finally passed, allow the removal of digital locks (DRM) for personal use. I have written to my MP, people on the committee looking at that, and to others. Now that International ebook rights are on the agenda for most Publishers, I'm hopeful that geographic restrictions will be a temporary (albeit very annoying) thing.

I just do not feel that the addition of eBooks to my available choices gives me some sort of right to have everything I want immediately (and for free) just because there are places online where I can get these things in that way.

[GeoffC]

I too am hopeful that geographic restriction is a temporary thing; but somehow, looking at the DVD market I suspect not....

[wvcherrybomb]

Originally Posted by taming

I didn’t think I was entitled to set the price of what I bought in 1960 and I don’t think I am entitled to determine the price I will pay now.

Well, actually, you are entitled to determine the price you will pay now. I do understand what you meant to say, though, and I disagree.

Back in 1960 reasonable profits were made after expenses. In 2011, we are being robbed. If you believe the expenses are the same or more to produce mass copies of an ebook, you are being naive.

I don't EXPECT anything for free. I do take freebies when they come along and I appreciate them. I expect to pay for what I want but I don't want to be charged more for something that costs much less to produce. At least one publisher has admitted in writing that they charge more for ebooks just because they can and not based on real expenses.

[Steven Lake]

Ya know, I've never seen the purpose of geographical restrictions on books. As an author, I want my books to show up everywhere possible. Yet it seems like the big presses don't care how many, or how few eyes hit paper. They just want their little power trips. Supposedly it's to control prices regionally, which they claim to have the power to do right now with paper books, but I think it's a lot more.

[abookreader]

I think it has changed for me in that I very often anymore don't wait for a price to come down to what I feel is acceptable.

Instead I just don't.

With the instant availability of the internet and now having access to thousands of publishers instead of just the few that used to make it onto the shelves @ Waldenbooks. I always have about 10 to 15 books current in my mind that I'd like to buy and the one that I do buy is the one at the price I like.

I just have too many choices to worry and fuss over a $14.99 book. Yeah, I stick them on my wishlist but to be honest I hardly ever even look at my wish list these days.

Nearly all of my book buying is the deals that I see popping up.

[Worldwalker]

There's one big difference:

There are certain constraints on the pricing of paper books beyond merely what the market will bear: for instance, as a book gets older, the demand for it usually drops, and if the publisher has money, warehouse space, taxes, etc., tied up in that inventory, then the publisher will reduce the price of the book in order to sell off those otherwise profit-eating copies. They have a good reason to want to unload remainders, shopworn books, unsold stock, and weird books that nobody will buy, for cheap. With ebooks, this is no longer the case. It doesn't cost the publisher anything to keep the files around. There are no piles of books sitting on the warehouse floor or being trucked off to the paper recycler. There are no used books, no lending to friends, and with the cabal, not even any retailer discounts. If you want the book, you can't hope to find it discounted, or at the rummage sale, or remaindered and sold to a discounter ... you can pay the full publisher's price (often more, sometimes much more, than the paper version) or you can go without.

Sure, that's profitable in the short term. But in the long term ... well, we're all bookworms here. How many of us got started with used books, discounted books, books with wonky covers, or strange books out of the bins at that discounter? I'd venture to guess most of us. Some of us still do. We spend the majority of our entertainment budget on books, and still don't have enough.

What the publishers are doing is reducing the number of books we can get for the same number of dollars. They think that by increasing the profit per book, they'll increase their overall profits. The problem is, books aren't the only game in town. If the people who are now buying cheap books are deprived of those books -- which is what the publishers are busting their butts to do -- they won't buy more expensive books. They'll buy other entertainment. There are lots of alternatives these days. You can buy several DVDs for the cost of a hardcover book. How many hours of video equal how many hours of text? For a lot of people, that answer to that equation is going to fall squarely in the video department. And when people aren't buying books, they're not encouraging other people to buy books. They're not teaching their children about books. They're not, in other words, long-term customers. Or, in the end, customers at all.

In short, instead of expanding their market, or even working to keep it the same size, the publishers are shrinking their own market. Business Fail 101. Then they'll blame "the pirates" for the reason nobody reads ... and never look where they should: in the mirror.

[mr ploppy]

Originally Posted by GeoffC

In the UK there are inter-library loans if you are patient enough.

How do you do that, and how long does it usually take?

[ATDrake]

Originally Posted by taming

Currently there is a bill before the Canadian Parliament (Bill C-32) that probably will, when finally passed, allow the removal of digital locks (DRM) for personal use. I have written to my MP, people on the committee looking at that, and to others.

I don't know whether you wrote in favour or not of the bill as it stands, but it's a lot less beneficial than it looks on the surface, with a clause that effectively invalidates the DRM-removal thing by then making it illegal to remove said "digital locks" on anything that has them, because the presence of digital locks will be considered to trump fair use.

For this among other reasons, it's been widely mocked and MP/Heritage Minister James Moore's calling everyone who's expressed their concerns about it "radical extremists" comparable to the Taliban is not helping matters. Especially when he tried to deny he ever said that, even though it was caught on video.

Here's a CBC breakdown on the bill when it first appeared.

Here's some commentary from Michael Geist, a professor at an Ontario university and some sort of specialist on copyright issues, plus links to others. He's also got a lot of posts and articles on the state of copyright and fair use laws in Canada and various attempts to bring in US-style DMCA.

Speaking of which, here's his comparison of the current US law and the proposed Canadian one.