Quote:
Originally Posted by Elfwreck
Which categories of publishing do you think DRM is necessary for? Which ones would disappear if DRM were outlawed--if it became illegal to hinder a buyer's ability to use their purchased (or licensed, whatever) ebooks?
|
Quote:
Originally Posted by pshute
Expensive ones, for a start. They'd have to be cheaper to avoid the temptation to copy them for free. Books that require massive resources to produce, ie lots of time spent on research, and which have a small market, couldn't survive.
|
"Expensive" is not a category of publishing. Do you mean college textbooks?
That is, I grant, is a publishing niche with big problems--the market is tiny and mostly poor, and the quality needs are high. However, this is also a niche where creative gov't or nonprofit support could help--neither of which the BPHs want to deal with. Open-source or Creative Commons textbooks are very possible, even peer-reviewed ones; we've no shortage of experts willing to write for very little financial recompense for the opportunity to have their books used for specific courses or endorsed by the gov't or high-prestige schools.
Do you think there are open-general-market categories of publishing that will vanish if DRM support goes away? Genres that will no longer be published? Types of publications that will no longer be produced?
--Magazines are having problems. So are daily newspapers. Both of those fit an info/entertainment niche that the web just provides *better.* But I'm not seeing the great danger to any particular types of books, just a lot of doomsaying that "things will be different! That means some of the things you care about may go away!"
Yes, they might. That's kinda the definition of "things will be different." I don't think we should be locked in stasis to prevent that. DRM is an attempt to create a parallel--not a duplicate--to the physical limitations of books, in order to prop up a market plan. Remove it, and the market dynamic changes, which means what's sold and what fails to sell will be different.
I haven't seen any evidence that "changes to the marketplace" will mean "less quality books in the future." Less books in some specific niches, yes. But *every* market change involves less books in some specific niches.