[rlauzon]

Originally Posted by Steve Jordan

I think we're all aware of how much you loathe even the minimalist security used by iTunes and similar sites... but the fact of the matter is, iTunes demonstrates how an effective balance between security, customer satisfaction and sales can be struck.

Balance?

Until recently, iTunes allows you to download music that plays on exactly 1 player: the iPod. You could not play that music on another iPod unless they gave you permission to do so.

Doesn't sound too balanced to me.

Originally Posted by Steve Jordan

So don't act as if the task is impossible or doomed to failure. That's ignoring the realities of the situation.

The reality is that any restriction on what a customer can do with the item purchased will decrease the value of the item. Too many restrictions means that the item becomes valueless to the consumer.

Originally Posted by Steve Jordan

This is actually common to many markets and products (cellphones, automobiles, software, cable TV),

I'm failing to see where those restrictions are for those products.

I can use my car in any way I choose, sell it, give it away.
I can do the same with all the software that I use (recently courts have ruled that software is sold - not licensed as Microsoft argued - and so like any other item, it can be sold, given away etc.)
My DVR lets me to whatever I want with any cable TV show I can see.

And, of course, all those items have some sort of physical element - and, so, make them an invalid to an eBook.

Originally Posted by Steve Jordan

but it hasn't stopped people from buying and using them, because--and this is key--they see how the advantages of having the product outweigh the disadvantages of going without.

And paying money for a restricted product has better value than getting an unrestricted product by pirating it?

Sorry, don't see it.

Originally Posted by Steve Jordan

Many products are bought and sold daily that satisfy that simple equation. Even with security, e-books could also satisfy that equation.

With "security" eBooks are valueless.