Quote:
Originally Posted by mr ploppy
If you were going to buy the CD why would you even look at mp3?
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CDs are convenient for physical devices. MP3s are convenient for small portable devices. I've found I actually prefer CDs for my car stereo, despite it having an MP3 player connector and a port for memory sticks (why I bought that model, in fact) because I don't have to think, dork around, or mess with a tiny display (it's a small MP3 player) to get whatever I'm in the mood for. If I want Metallica, I put in a Metallica CD. If I want Wagner, I put in a Wagner CD. Etc.
"DRM that works" (that is, that couldn't be removed) wouldn't solve the problem. It would still hurt the good people -- the ones who want to treat their ebooks like pbooks, use them on whatever device they have at the moment, keep reading them after the vendor dies (on which note, when we say "Amazon will always be there", do we
really want to support only the largest vendors?), and not have to re-buy their whole libraries if they get a Kindle instead of a Nook. And it still wouldn't hurt the bad people -- DRM stripping aside, if anyone really wants to share the book, they'll just scan the pbook. No pbook? That's what screenshots are for. And remember, it only takes
one person. Every person in that 10% doesn't have to do the work; just one guy in Russia somewhere, and all the rest just read the book.
As for Baen, they remind me of a couple of companies in the tabletop roleplaying game industry. One of the two made a big fuss about how everything they did was "for the gamer" and how their goal (even as they threatened their own customers, at one point, which got them boycotted) was to do what was best for gamers. Which, um, wasn't. The other company said, outright, "we're doing this to make money." The owner, who I knew, made no bones about the fact that he was in business to make money, and was going to do those things which caused people to give him money. One of those two -- widely believed to be only interested in profit -- hit bottom several times until it finally went totally broke, and has been bought several times subsequently. The other, despite things like collectible card games taking customers away from its core business, is still healthy and thriving today. Since this is a post about business honesty, I'll let you guess which one is which. Hint: the thriving one was honest.
(no bonus points for figuring out who they are; if you know the industry it's obvious, and if it's not obvious, the answer wouldn't have much meaning anyway)