Quote:
Originally Posted by Giggleton
... But we can imagine sites setting up lending ratios, something like buy one book and get the option to download ten more. I would most likely be more willing to buy into that sort of scheme. ...
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You've just laid out a good argument for why selling
used ebooks is a silly concept which transparently circumvents paying for a
new ebook.
O'Reilly, which many consider to be the top-of-the-line in computer books, sells all their ebooks with NO DRM, yet they sell them at the same high prices they sell their paper books for. Excellent stuff will fetch a high price, even when it's possible to steal it.
I think the free market can solve this fairly easily. Agency pricing should be outlawed. If a grocer can sell ketchup at a loss as a leader to get you in the store, then ebook sites should most definitely be allowed to sell big names of their choosing at a loss to draw you in too.
And as for DRM, there are several publishers which don't ever sell DRM. I always buy non-DRM books if I have a choice as I hope we all do. Even if you strip the DRM, you're encouraging the practice. We vote with out dollars (and euros, pounds and pesos).
If enough people vote that way, DRM will go. And that will put some downward pressure on prices to give less incentive to steal. At some point, as prices lower, there's no need to even think about selling
used ebooks.
And why would booksellers lower prices? The curve. There exists some price at which they'll make maximum profit. And I don't think it's at the high end.