Quote:
Originally Posted by mikij
I would just like to know how many ebooks would Amazon sell if they were DRM-free and for multiple devices. Their numbers would increase exponentially.
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As much as I dislike DRM (wouldn't touch a Kindle even if Amazon gave them away free) and Kindle's lack of open-format (read: EPUB) support, my hat's off to the Bezios golden touch; he's done what no one else has been able to do -- blown the barriers to ebook adoption wide open. Even if the Amazon effect hasn't (yet) had a major overall impact on ebook adoptions, Amazon has given ebooks mindshare and credibility. I guarantee there isn't a publisher on the planet that isn't taking ebooks more seriously than they were three years ago. And that tide will lift the whole ebook ecosystem.
To be honest, I don't think disencumbering ebooks would have much positive effect on Amazon's sales. First, I doubt most Kindle users spend much time thinking about DRM to begin with.
Second, while I suspect for some Kindle users $9.99 isn't too much to pay just for the convenience of instant download, I guess a lot more would forego the convenience if the same book were freely available elsewhere -- say, from their friends or some Russian website.
Deconstructing Amazon's assertions, one is left wondering just what the real significance of "more ebooks than hardcovers" is. But I have to say I think Amazon has done more for ebooks in the past couple of years than anyone this side of Michael Hart.
--Nathanael