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Originally Posted by stonetools
Actually, you don't know this. We simply don't know where the technology will go. It may go to a place where where DRM and non DRM files will be unplayable in the preferred media player of the future. It has happened in the past and will likely happen again.
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We know that we are wanting to, trying to, and succeeding in making sure it doesn't happen again. As I said before, we are and should be driving things toward better and easier access, not trying to preserve the mistakes and limitations of the past.
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I really don't know what Baen's finances are -perhaps you could enlighten me? Could Baen have done even better if they had been a DRM shop? Do you know for sure that their authors did not lose many sales to casual sharing and/or piracy? Is the average Baen book really as likely to be casually shared as, say, "Unbroken" or the latest Oprah's Book Club selection?
I don't know the answer to these questions, but if I was the owner of a big publishing company, I would need definitive answers before exposing my authors' IP rights in that way.
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I know Baen's way has attracted me as a customer. But, of course, Baen's way is legal, doing it at the authors request, with the authors EXERCISING their IP rights to participate or not.
And is SF and fantasy really a small niche? I'd have though it's probably one of the bigger and more popular genres.
ApK