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Old 03-22-2011, 03:48 PM   #336
Elfwreck
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Join Date: Nov 2008
Location: SF Bay Area, California, USA
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Quote:
Originally Posted by stonetools View Post
I just put Girl with the Dragoon Tattoo into a Google search box and went 5 pages down without finding aan illegal book site.
Did you try it with the word "ebook?" I got two hits for unauthorized free download sites on the first page of results.

Quote:
What you kind of seem to be saying is that authors and publishers shouldn't even try to use the limited tools available to secure their rights, if there is a chance that their efforts might inconvenience some consumer somewhere. Needless to say, that's not the standard with any physical product.
They're welcome to use any tools they like.

And I'm free to shop from someone else.

I'm not saying publishers are evil (although I think some of them are rather vile); I'm saying they're using an increasingly-flawed business model. I'm not required to feed their paranoia by agreeing that they'll fail if they ... allow me to use what I buy like Baen, Samhain and Smashwords do.

Quote:
Radio Shack storeowners lock up their Ipods beyond the counter. That's inconvenient to me and any potential buyer.
But I'm not required to go through their locks *after* I buy. The issue isn't how much control they have over their products before purchase; it's about how I'm allowed to use it after I give them money.

Quote:
Sure in a perfect world, we could say "Trust the consumer not to be a jerk about large scale sharing" . BUt I don't know if I would bet MY livelihood on consumers not being such jerks.
Baen does. O'Reilly does--and their customers are digirati geeks. JA Konrath does. Joshua Graham does. Amanda Hocking does.

Not everyone who's bet on "the customers aren't jerks" is making a good living. But then, not everyone who hasn't, is making a good living either.

The issue isn't whether it's possible to make a living without DRM. Obviously, it is. The issue is whether DRM makes it easier to make a living at writing. Got any evidence to support that?

Quote:
I guess I'm unwilling to ask publishers and authors to bet THEIR livelihoods. If it turns out wrong, you'll just say "Oops!" and move on. They won't have that option.
I'm not asking them to bet anything. I'm pointing out that until they change their business model, I'm buying from the competition.

They need to take a long, hard look at how many sales DRM causes, by preventing easy free downloads, vs how many it loses by annoying customers. Especially since that second category never gets smaller.
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