[Hellmark]

Originally Posted by John F

Looking at this from my point of view (I enjoyed the books, and don't really care about the details of how they get out in ebook form), JKR screwed it up.

She waited too long. The publishers would bend over backwards and sign any contract she wanted. She could have gotten them (the ebooks) out a long time ago if she wanted.

So she whored out the paper books, whored out the movies, whored out the audio books, buy wanted the ebooks to be perfect?

The first thing I'll do with the ebooks (if I get them), is reformat them the way I like.

As far as the whoring out comment, how much control did she have at the time? She could have done the normal type contract, which gave the publishers a lot of rights over different areas, so she ultimately didn't have much say in if the movies and audiobooks could or could not be made?

Originally Posted by SeaKing

Didn't realize I was going to hit a nerve with my statements.

Didn't realize that Rowling was a Mother Theresa as well.

I will be a little clearer in my opinion about Rowling. She wrote some cute children's' books that by the touch of fate's fickle hand became very popular. All this made her more than an author in some people's eyes. She became an idol. Like a baseball player or soccer star.
Her comments and thoughts were picked up, researched and plucked for important meanings and insight.
Now she has been elevated to near Sainthood by her fawning public.

But remember all she did was write some cutesy, and in some people's opinion dumb children's books. I think Dr Seuss did a better job.

Part of what struck a nerve for me, is not who or what she is, but rather your admitted lack of experience with the series and the author your were bashing.

As far as being cutesy, if you'd have actually read the books, you'd see how cutesy wouldn't be an accurate word to describe it. It gets pretty dark. Also, part of what I liked about the HP books is that the reading level seemed to be on par with Harry's age at the time of each book. First one seems to be on par where an 11 year old can read it, and the final book, its an 18 year old reading level. The books were being released one a year, and the reader more or less was to grow with Harry. Really a cool concept, and well executed. That aside, how many "cutesy" stories feature rampant murder and torture?

Originally Posted by anamardoll

I blogged about it at the time, but I'm not happy with the "tagging" aspect. I don't like being treated like a potential criminal, and I don't like the fact that if my computer was hacked or stolen, it would be impossible to prove that it wasn't ME that put one of my ebooks on a torrent. Likely to happen? Of course not. Possible with 'social' DRM? Yeah.

There are some drawbacks, such as the inability to prove who uploaded the copies you uploaded, but with the watermarking that they've done already, they've not gone after who originally bought the book, but rather who they could catch as being the ones uploading it. Yeah, they know it is John Smith's copy, but they have proof that Bob Johnson was uploading it. The argument of "Can you prove it was me who uploaded it" usually leaves most lawyers wanting to go after the easy targets instead. Still, I'd much rather have the watermarking than the other DRM we have now.

Originally Posted by SeaKing

Referring to pastanley's excellent point, I did a quick look at Amazon for printed book prices. I don't know which names belong to which number of book so if the book wasn't listed by number, I left it out. (i.e. #3 and #5)

pastanley: "printe books are bountiful and much cheaper."

sweetpea: "... And how do you know the print books are much cheaper as the ebooks aren't even there? Also, while I do own the pbooks, I'd have bought the ebooks at the same time where they available. Simply because I prefer reading ebooks. "

Hellmark: "Cheaper than what? No ebooks are currently for sale, and while a timeframe has been established for when they will go on sale, no prices have been set."

From Amazon:
Paperback Box (1-7)
$43.46 New free shipping
(divide by 7 and it is just slightly above $6 per book new.)

Even cheaper used, the +3.99 is for shipping and handling.
Individual
1 0.01 +3.99 used paperback
2 0.01 +3.99 used paper
3
4 0.19 +3.99 used paper
5
6 2.99 +3.99 used paper (actually a little higher than in the new set)
7 1.00 +3.99 used hard

I would say that pastanley is correct!

Of course used would be considered cheap. That's kinda apples and oranges. Best to compare ebooks to new paper, since they're technically not preowned for either.

Originally Posted by John F

Hellmark, bought up the "whoring" part, and I disagree with it, hence the slap on the head icon.

Again, it isn't known how much control she had over the stuff before. If she had very little say on if things are made or not made, when something comes along that she does get a definite say on, I can see why someone would be cautious and wanting more control before agreeing something else.