Quote:
Originally Posted by Highroller
Andrew I get the distinct feeling that if you have lived 100 years ago you would have been shilling for the horse and buggy people saying those new-fangled automobiles would NEVER catch on. That people would ALWAYS stick with their tried and true horse and buggy.
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I was promised a flying car in the 60's, I don't have it, so, yeah, I'm bitter!
I know that technology changes, which is why I have an e-reader, computer, smartphone, XBox, Apple TV, digital camera, etc.
But far from every prediction about technology comes true (see my flying car), and so I think you have to look carefully at the evidence to see what will actually occur. And I don't see a lot of evidence that anything will favor indie publishers over large publishers. Even though it's DRM'd and $13, vastly more people want to read Diane Setterfield and other authors like her than whatever is popular on a random indie site. And the vast majority are going to make their decision based on what they want to read, not on political issues, such as the size of the publisher or the use of DRM.
And with respect to torrents, it's more complicated for non-techie people than you you describe. It's not just "google epub torrent;" it's knowing that there is such a thing as a torrent and having some idea how it works; it's downloading and installing a client; and it's feeling comfortable downloading a torrent despite your techie friends' advice not to download something from an unfamiliar site.
This is easy enough for me, but I think that convenience always wins out in the end, and most people will be content to just use their reader's built in store, maybe with the occasional venture to another DRM-free store.