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paaThaka · 10-16-2010, 08:40 AM

The publishing industry is going through huge changes, just like the music industry did 10 years ago.

I saw the writing on the wall when I started converting and uploading snippets of my favorite tracks in MPEG-Audio Layer II (mp2) to net in c. 1995. By 2001 it was already too late for the music industry to fight back.

The same is now happening in the publishing industry.

Changes coming:

- even stricter DRM (in the beginning), but it will fail (same reasons as before)
- worldwide publishing rights, because Internet cannot be geo-contained (not even in China)
- much smaller publishers at lower prices
- ebook only publishers
- lots of piracy and blurring of the line between right/wrong
- perhaps even a "Napster" for ebooks/magazines/comics (dedicate torrents and sites have already exists for years)
- commoditization of publishing (the entry price/difficulty to being a published book author will crash through the floor, just like being a musician happened for music)
- a youtube of books, magazines, etc (scribd.com or some future variant I can't even dream up yet)

I personally buy a lot of books and have a library of a couple of thousand physical, although I'm constantly re-selling stuff that I don't want to keep. Yet, my collection of Creative Commons licensed and copyright free electronic books is now growing much faster than my physical book collection.

So, even old farts like me cannot resist the tide and no matter how many DRM Amazon books I buy, the platform is likely to crush under non-DRM alternative within the next 10 years.

And that's a good thing, because just like GreenMonkey said, DRM will harm you the buyer, more than it hurts the corporations that push it, or stops the pirates who crack it.

So, for the next 10 years, for better or worse, be prepared to buy DRM, buy dead trees copies or pirate. All of those, depending on what you actually want (format, freedom, titles), because not everything will be available in all formats in all geographical locations.

It takes time for the industry to adjust. That's just the nature of the beast.

10-16-2010, 08:40 AM	#87
paaThaka Connoisseur Posts: 54 Karma: 499216 Join Date: Sep 2010 Device: none	The publishing industry is going through huge changes, just like the music industry did 10 years ago. I saw the writing on the wall when I started converting and uploading snippets of my favorite tracks in MPEG-Audio Layer II (mp2) to net in c. 1995. By 2001 it was already too late for the music industry to fight back. The same is now happening in the publishing industry. Changes coming: - even stricter DRM (in the beginning), but it will fail (same reasons as before) - worldwide publishing rights, because Internet cannot be geo-contained (not even in China) - much smaller publishers at lower prices - ebook only publishers - lots of piracy and blurring of the line between right/wrong - perhaps even a "Napster" for ebooks/magazines/comics (dedicate torrents and sites have already exists for years) - commoditization of publishing (the entry price/difficulty to being a published book author will crash through the floor, just like being a musician happened for music) - a youtube of books, magazines, etc (scribd.com or some future variant I can't even dream up yet) I personally buy a lot of books and have a library of a couple of thousand physical, although I'm constantly re-selling stuff that I don't want to keep. Yet, my collection of Creative Commons licensed and copyright free electronic books is now growing much faster than my physical book collection. So, even old farts like me cannot resist the tide and no matter how many DRM Amazon books I buy, the platform is likely to crush under non-DRM alternative within the next 10 years. And that's a good thing, because just like GreenMonkey said, DRM will harm you the buyer, more than it hurts the corporations that push it, or stops the pirates who crack it. So, for the next 10 years, for better or worse, be prepared to buy DRM, buy dead trees copies or pirate. All of those, depending on what you actually want (format, freedom, titles), because not everything will be available in all formats in all geographical locations. It takes time for the industry to adjust. That's just the nature of the beast. Last edited by paaThaka; 10-16-2010 at 08:44 AM.