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Originally Posted by stonetools
There is really one crucial question that must be answered before we can give up on DRM. Can we assure that writers and publishers can make a good living in a post DRM world? Here, I must say, that I find the arguments of the anti DRM folk rather weak.
1."Somehow, we will find way to compensate writers and publishers". Somehow? Well, I'm sorry, that's not good enough . We are talking about the the livelihoods of millions of writers and people employed in the publishing industry. I think they deserve more than what may be charitably described as a pious wish and less chaaritably, as fatuous, self serving BS.
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Uhh... by buying their work? I don't understand people who think that removing DRM is the equivalent of giving away everything for free. It's not. Not everyone is sitting behind their monitor cackling madly and downloading free books. It's just making it easier for honest people to buy the books. My mom and my mother-in-law both have ereaders, and neither use them because they can't figure out which stores they're "allowed" to buy from. That's all manner of ridiculous.
Quote:
Originally Posted by stonetools
2."Look at the example of the music industry. " Yep, let's look at the music industry. Revenues have gone down every where, despite iTunes. And musicians have ways of making a living other than publishing content.
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The music industry hit their peak, and now they're in decline. Honestly, I don't really buy a lot of music. I have an XM subscription, and that's where I listen to all my music. I'm from a younger generation: we don't buy albums. We're also not forced to purchase an entire cd just because we want one song... and this is part of what was driving cd sales. Now, artists have to put out a solid
album, it's no longer enough to have one hit on it to drive album sales.
Quote:
Originally Posted by stonetools
4."Look at Baen Publishing". This seems to be a good example. However, Baen's is a small scale publisher, serving a niche market. Can their approach scale up to a worldwide industry encompassing many genres? I do not know the answer to that question.
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I don't know, but I'd love to find out. I don't think the exact way they work will work for every publisher, but yes, I do think getting rid of DRM is a great first step. I don't think it's in every publisher's best interest to give away cds with tons free books they've published... this just seems like lost revenue to me.
Quote:
Originally Posted by stonetools
I would humbly suggest that the anti DRM folks direct their efforts to providing a detailed answer to that question, rather than sit around in a circle congratulating themselves on having the "right" answer to the question of DRM. It is only when that question is answered that there is any hope that publishers and authors will give up DRM
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