All this would be very nice if the publishers weren't acting like whining babies ranting about "the death of the publishing industry" after every tiny new innovation comes by to upset their medieval business models. This is not the aloof titan of industry portrayed in the original post
.
Considering the tremendous lobbying efforts by the publishing industry towards building insane copyright laws that seek to mask their own incompetence, I would say that the people OP was talking about
do matter - an inordinate amount (unfortunately) to some of the paranoid freaks that rule this industry. Why else would they base their entire corporate policy and business strategy on the actions of these "people who don't matter"?
I wish the OP were correct - at least then the industry would behave like a capitalist industry should - and not seek to emulate the worst kinds of socialist protectionism.
And to the OP - you don't have to own an original Picasso to be an art lover. Please keep things in perspective. Only a tiny fraction of the books that come out in hardcover are worthy of being that durable. Most aren't worth the paper they're printed on. Seems like a bloody waste to spend all those resources printing those beautiful books with trashy content of fleeting importance (if that). I buy a
lot of hardcovers - but only those that I plan to keep for a long time (ideally my entire life). The latest mainstream thriller is worth cheap copier paper at most - why would I buy a hardcover of
that?
They should make disposable versions of these (like newspapers). I can see why libraries would buy them (durability - but then they
have to preserve
everything ).