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Originally Posted by darryl
I agree with a lot of what you say here. I don't think Big Publishing is going anywhere soon. They have intellectual property rights that will see them remain relevant for many years, even if they closed up shop today and just relied on exploiting these rights. I think what role they play in the future depends heavily on the decisions they make now, and perhaps some of the decisions they have already made. Music is not a bad example. The record companies made many mistakes initially and did not adapt very well. As a result, Apple's ITunes filled a profitable role which they themselves had the box seat to fill had their leaders at the time had more vision. But it's hardly fair to blame people for not being visionaries. So few are.
But the record labels did adapt in time to save themselves and maintain a major and profitable role. Using your music industry analogy I would say the Big Publishers are still largely in the denial and obstruction phase. They are pursuing short term goals at the expense of their role in the industry in the long term future. The direction they are taking at the moment, at least to me, seems to lead to oblivion, a future of exploiting their existing intellectual property rights and little else and gradually winding down to nothing over more than a century. They still have time to retain for themselves a major role in the future, as it appears record companies have done. Personally, I have no love for these organisations and will not shed a tear at their decline. But realistically, it is not yet too late for them. But there will come a day when it is.
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I'm not seeing why you think this. I can't think of a single book written in the last 10 years that I wanted that wasn't available as an e-book. I'm sure there must be some out there, but it's very much a rarity. What exactly do you think they are obstructing and in denial about? DRM? Book prices?