MobileRead Forums - View Single Post - So, briefly, what do you think about the Kindle now?

rflashman · 12-04-2007, 03:21 PM

I've come to strongly believe that copyright is socially dead. As a society we only believe it is a crime to sell what is not yours (a store selling stolen content for example), but socially we have accepted that non-financial duplication is not a crime. You cannot find anyone left in our society who has not at some point copied a document, song, or video and felt bad or guilty about it.

Content creators (books, movies, music) will gain income through distribution convenience (easier to buy from Amazon than go find a site to download from) and directed marketing (you buy what is marketed to you), etc.

What the industry stupidly sees as lost sales (pirate sites, bittorrent, copying, sharing, etc.) becomes nothing but the same loss they had when people borrowed content (books, videos, music albums). They probably would never have made these "lost sales" in the first place and as market prices adjust to practical realities, the consumers flock to what is most convenient.

Look at cable. We all have the option to put an aerial up and be entertained for FREE. But we all pay instead $100-200 a month for cable because we want a zillion extra channels (a zillion extra content). But according to nielsens ratings, what do we watch every night? The same shows that were available free. We just wanted the 'option' to occassionally wander beyond the limited selection of over-the-air content. Sure the networks experienced some loss due to so much content now being available (some people really wanted that secondary content). But they survived, and the viewers got the benefit of expanded content that they never would have gotten in the first place (insert your favorite unknown cable channel here).

Amazon, in a way, is offering a model of this. Expanded content through self-publishing, some additional upfront cost for additional convenience/access to expanded content, etc. Sure I can pirate one of Jordan's books if I look hard and long enough (though I have a feeling he's quite the expert on tracking that down), but it is/was so much more convenient to paypal him $10 for his book collection that I never bothered. Convenient and marketing (via his email post promoting his bundle) beat out free. Copyright/DRM was moot.

12-04-2007, 03:21 PM	#89
rflashman Zealot Posts: 107 Karma: 408 Join Date: Jul 2007 Device: Amazon Kindle, Archos 605 Wifi, & Sony PRS-500	I've come to strongly believe that copyright is socially dead. As a society we only believe it is a crime to sell what is not yours (a store selling stolen content for example), but socially we have accepted that non-financial duplication is not a crime. You cannot find anyone left in our society who has not at some point copied a document, song, or video and felt bad or guilty about it. Content creators (books, movies, music) will gain income through distribution convenience (easier to buy from Amazon than go find a site to download from) and directed marketing (you buy what is marketed to you), etc. What the industry stupidly sees as lost sales (pirate sites, bittorrent, copying, sharing, etc.) becomes nothing but the same loss they had when people borrowed content (books, videos, music albums). They probably would never have made these "lost sales" in the first place and as market prices adjust to practical realities, the consumers flock to what is most convenient. Look at cable. We all have the option to put an aerial up and be entertained for FREE. But we all pay instead $100-200 a month for cable because we want a zillion extra channels (a zillion extra content). But according to nielsens ratings, what do we watch every night? The same shows that were available free. We just wanted the 'option' to occassionally wander beyond the limited selection of over-the-air content. Sure the networks experienced some loss due to so much content now being available (some people really wanted that secondary content). But they survived, and the viewers got the benefit of expanded content that they never would have gotten in the first place (insert your favorite unknown cable channel here). Amazon, in a way, is offering a model of this. Expanded content through self-publishing, some additional upfront cost for additional convenience/access to expanded content, etc. Sure I can pirate one of Jordan's books if I look hard and long enough (though I have a feeling he's quite the expert on tracking that down), but it is/was so much more convenient to paypal him $10 for his book collection that I never bothered. Convenient and marketing (via his email post promoting his bundle) beat out free. Copyright/DRM was moot.