Quote:
Originally Posted by Fbone
<sigh> Why does the entire industry (retailer/publisher/customer) make things so complicated?
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Because life is complicated?
Because you have a 21st century industry desperately trying to cling to a 19th century model that has been obsolete for over a generation.
Because legacy contracts bind even the most forward-thinking.
Because trying to license digital goods using processes evolved for selling dead tree pulp is a serious mismatch.
Because everybody wants to make/save as much money as possible.
Because simplicity satisfies (almost) nobody.
Because ebooks are disrupting the decades long stasis in the entire industry and forcing everybody to face up to the above.
Just jump into the nearest time machine and fast forward 20 years and you *might* find a clean and coherent publishing industry waiting for you. *If* you can recognize what it has by then become. And even then, you'll still find plenty of angst on all sides.
It is sheer chaos, really.
But as a rather clever movie character once said: "In chaos, there is opportunity."
For everybody.
Just don't expect simplicity.