Quote:
Originally Posted by TCSimpson
The takeover with music wasn't sudden. MP3 was first standardized in 1991. For years, the underground pushed it and the industry refused to accept it. Then came Napster in '99 and everything went haywire. I still recall the old AOL filesharing chat rooms. The music industry refused to accept digital as a viable product, because like the print industry, they wanted to sell the hard copy for more money. (Never mind the fact that you might only want to buy one or two songs but were forced to purchase an entire album.) By the time they saw the revolt and how big technology had become, it was too late for brick and mortar stores. The coming of iTunes made it so much easier for artists who might not have made a living otherwise, to do so. It made it easier for a listener to choose their favorite songs and compile them in an easily handled medium. Sounds familiar? What the book industry has handled a little better, and it's mostly due to Amazon's push of the kindle, following Apple's example, is to try get in on the ebook market.
And I think it's a fallacy that most adult buyers of books are willing to dish out the same price or more for the convenience of an ebook. Most I know aren't. They believe, and rightfully so, that it is cheaper to produce an ebook than it is a print book. Cheaper storage involved, no worry about printing and back order etc etc. Sure, there are expenses, cover art, editing, marketing etc, but do those things justify having the ebook priced hired than the hard copy?
In the end, ALL the companies are running a business and looking to make money, regardless of how it affects the consumer. I mean, that is the point of business, to make money. In the end, it's the consumer who might suffer, as can be seen by the price fixing.
And of course the publishers have a right to protect their goods. But at the expense of the consumer being able to read what he already bought across the multiple devices he owns?
“Our authors and readers have been asking for this for a long time,” said president and publisher Tom Doherty. “They’re a technically sophisticated bunch, and DRM is a constant annoyance to them. It prevents them from using legitimately-purchased e-books in perfectly legal ways, like moving them from one kind of e-reader to another.” That was from Tor. I didn't make it up.
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So how many ways is it necessary to read a book and across how many devices.
D
RM may be a constant annoyance to your friends, how would I know? My friends mostly don't know what DRM is. And I am afraid I don't enlighten them. Why rain on their happy parade of reading their ebooks on the device they bought them for. I mention that they could read them on a different device if they got the right app etc. and I get a why would I want to do that.
My technically inclined friends are the same and I have quite a few. They buy the book and read it. No playing around moving their books from device to device. These are young people with degrees and well paying jobs in IT. They show no signs of caring and might be inclined to tell me to p*** off if I was to try to bore the with the details. They have ereaders, Windows phones, Surface tablets etc. and spend little (no) time worrying about transferring the ebook around. Somewhat like myself I guess.
Of course different people, different concerns and obsessions. My obsession is reading the book, maybe spend a few hours, enjoy it and on to the next. Another one unfortunately is getting caught up in endless discussions with those that want to read the same book over and over ad infinitum on every device they own. Very silly of me I know.
Helen