MobileRead Forums - View Single Post - TM: An alternative to DRM? Let's discuss.

pieter · 04-01-2008, 03:24 AM

iTunes and the iPod (or other mp3 players) would never have gotten as popular as they are now if file-sharing of copyrighted music wasn't popular. Do you really believe it would have become mainstream for 15 year old kids to have a device that holds up to 80gb of music if the only way to fill it up would be to pay for every song?
iTunes was late by a great many years. File sharing was way ahead of iTunes and the iPod.
This still works like that. Many people buy an iPod because they know they have the option to fill it for free. Be it copying cd's from friends, asking other people to download stuff for them, or going to bit torrent sites by themselves to get stuff. You can't try to disconnect the mp3 from file sharing. And a large portion of why mp3 has become a mainstream format is because of file sharing.

The same will be true with the digital book format. And already is. There are many file sharing sites with only ebooks on the internet, and the more popular the ebook format gets the more of those sites there will be. AND VICE VERSA! You can't have it just one way. The more popular file-sharing of ebooks gets, the more popular the ebook format will get.

It seems some people want the ebook format to get popular, but dont want file sharing to become more popular, but that just isn't how the internet works. Either don't bring your content to the digital age and make sure paper will stay the normal way to read a book. Or go digital and experience how the internet works with digital content. That involves file sharing as well.
And you want ebook to do well and become popular, then know that it will only be that way with file sharing of it being very popular as well. The file sharing popularity of a digital format goes hand in hand with the overal popularity of a digital format.

Saying file sharing does not generate sales is very short sighted, just like saying that file sharing does not stop people from buying content is short sighted. This is so, because the "pirates" and the "honest people" are the same people.
Or maybe you'd only want to sell a book to somebody who never in his life has copied a cd from a friend, or copied a part of a copyrighted textbook, or did something else that is against copyright law.

04-01-2008, 03:24 AM	#84
pieter Connoisseur Posts: 59 Karma: 501 Join Date: Mar 2008 Device: CyBook Gen3	iTunes and the iPod (or other mp3 players) would never have gotten as popular as they are now if file-sharing of copyrighted music wasn't popular. Do you really believe it would have become mainstream for 15 year old kids to have a device that holds up to 80gb of music if the only way to fill it up would be to pay for every song? iTunes was late by a great many years. File sharing was way ahead of iTunes and the iPod. This still works like that. Many people buy an iPod because they know they have the option to fill it for free. Be it copying cd's from friends, asking other people to download stuff for them, or going to bit torrent sites by themselves to get stuff. You can't try to disconnect the mp3 from file sharing. And a large portion of why mp3 has become a mainstream format is because of file sharing. The same will be true with the digital book format. And already is. There are many file sharing sites with only ebooks on the internet, and the more popular the ebook format gets the more of those sites there will be. AND VICE VERSA! You can't have it just one way. The more popular file-sharing of ebooks gets, the more popular the ebook format will get. It seems some people want the ebook format to get popular, but dont want file sharing to become more popular, but that just isn't how the internet works. Either don't bring your content to the digital age and make sure paper will stay the normal way to read a book. Or go digital and experience how the internet works with digital content. That involves file sharing as well. And you want ebook to do well and become popular, then know that it will only be that way with file sharing of it being very popular as well. The file sharing popularity of a digital format goes hand in hand with the overal popularity of a digital format. Saying file sharing does not generate sales is very short sighted, just like saying that file sharing does not stop people from buying content is short sighted. This is so, because the "pirates" and the "honest people" are the same people. Or maybe you'd only want to sell a book to somebody who never in his life has copied a cd from a friend, or copied a part of a copyrighted textbook, or did something else that is against copyright law.