Quote:
Originally Posted by JSWolf
People are NOT going to be paying $300-$400 to read newspapers and magazines. Especially when the reading experience is better via the paper copies.
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Well, perhaps MOST people are not going to. But enough have already to sell out the initial stock level of Kindles and, I understand, of the $700 iLiad. Early adopters will spend. I purchased (and received) a Kindle. The decision was not based on economics. It was based on convenience. People will spend incredible amounts of money for convenience.
The first issue one needs to get past is whether ebook readers make any sense in the first place. I travel a lot. I could all carry a few novels around with me everywhere I go, but I find the new way more convenient. Likewise, I could carry a CD player and my CD collection around too, but opt to carry my music around on an Ipod. Likewise, I could carry around an old fashion address / appointment book, but choose to have a cell phone that syncs with my PC's Outlook. And so on... I subscribe to the WSJ and NYT on the Kindle too --- real convenient --- but not the same experience as the real paper versions --- but real convenient.
The second issue one might need to get past is the DRM issue. I do not buy any music that has DRM associated with it because I have various devices I use to listen to music: PC, ipod, my car's hard disk, ... I can honestly said that I do not recall ever re-reading a book. So, for me, that is not an issue, for some people it will be a major issue. The one thing about DRM that does piss me off is the inability to share books. My wife an I have a few authors that we both enjoy. DRM makes sharing books a PITA. I have never sold any used books, so that isn't an issue for me. I have recently started donating some of my older pbooks to local nursing / home facilities. Unfortunately, I will not be able to continue that with DRMed eBooks.
My final point is the Kindle approach to eBooks. While I do have some issues with the physical ergonomics of the device, the simplicity they have brought to content delivery (and purchasing) is a big deal. For most readers of this blog, the process of going to a web site, buying a book, downloading it to a PC, hooking up their ebook reader, copying the book to some folder on some obscure disk drive using windows explorer is no big deal. To most people I know, it will just never happen. The wispernet approach to delivering (and even purchasing) content makes this device something the somewhat-less-than-geek can do.
Maybe this will be what will make the eBook experience palatable to the masses - doable and convenient --- not necessarily the most economic --- just like the ipod did to music.