Quote:
Originally Posted by fjtorres
Saw it earlier this week.
Saw it dismembered a half dozen ways, too.
Total lack of understanding of mainstream consumers.
But then, ideologues are top-down thinkers. Looking at how people behave and why isn't as important as promoting their ideas.
(Shrug)
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It does seem to be a bit of an awkward mishmash of ideas. Can't say all of them are wrong, per se, but they definitely don't integrate.
Hachette didn't
allow Amazon to put their DRM on their titles, they insisted upon it. And besides, the DRM is not
really what keeps people "locked in" to Amazon. The DRM is in fact, negligible to the tiny portion of consumers that gives a damn about it. They've
always had the option to stop selling their books through Amazon. The small group of consumers who would be bitten in the ass by not being able to open their old books on new devices would be the least of their worries if they did so.
So while I think he's right that Hachette could possibly benefit by offering a highly publicized 50% sale "for anyone who wants to switch to buying ebooks from Apple, Google, Kobo or Nook," I think he's silly to think that it's Amazon's DRM that would thwart it.
I don't think his suggestion that they immediately remove DRM from their titles is a bad idea (in fact I support it)--and one that may give them some options in the future. I just don't think it would have the slightest effect on the current state of affairs.
He IS right to believe that Hachette had a big hand in putting themselves in their current situation, just not about HOW they got there (or what they need to do to get out of it).
It's like he just couldn't resist making this into a "No DRM!!" article, regardless of how irrelevant it is to the situation.