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Originally Posted by da_jane
I thik the Mini disc is the perfect example of why it is dangerous to be tied to the Sony Reader. If it is not successful and you were an early adopter, what happens to all the books that you purchased in BBeB format when the Sony Reader becomes defunct or when a new and better reader comes onto the market...
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Well, I think I would say it slightly differently - Simply that one should be aware of the limitations when buying DRM'd e-books (not just from Sony, but from anyone). As you say, there is no reason to expect that the e-book will be available long term. If the seller becomes defunct or reader technology changes, the books may no longer be available for reading. But there are a lot of public domain books that can be read on Sony Reader or almost any other book reader.
We have similar frustrations with computer software, which we have to keep upgrading also as technology advances. I'd like to see some kind of deal with the publishers so that when you buy an e-book, say at the Sony store, you get assurances from the publisher that you can get future formats at no cost or a small conversion cost. We at least get a discount for most software upgrades, and that is entirely new "content." It seems reasonable that e-book buyers should be able to "upgrade" their existing e-books to another format, at a price that simply covers the administration cost of such a program. However, my concern is that the publisher would not view it as an assurance to the customer, but that they would view it as a revenue stream, and prices for conversions would be too high to be worthwhile. Administration of such a system might also be a challenge.
Fortunately, most people probably buy the DRM'd books for things like novels and best sellers and be willing to acknowledge that the books might not be available in 5-10-20 years. We've been living with that imperfect reality for many years already. It's not a great situation, but it's all we have right now. A Sony purchase will be very much like buying an eReader book. In either case, you probably won't want to buy one if your driving motivation is to read it over and over for the next 50yrs and don't want to repurchase it multiple times. But people might still want to buy it in e-book form for the short run, especially if it's content for their e-ink device. The portability and convenience of the e-book file might be a driving factor in the purchase for a lot of people instead of a physical book. It's easy to see, though, why so many people cry out vehemently that "DRM stinks!" or have decided to stay away from DRM as a matter of principle. Nobody (except maybe publishers and the politicians that they support) wants to see the shift from paper to electronic books cause the rights of the reading public to be diminished. That's going to be a huge fight in the years to come.
As a side observation, the other e-ink readers don't really even have any options to buy newer copyrighted e-books, do they? The thing about Sony is that it gives you that option, plus the ability to read non-DRM'd books to your heart's content.
Sorry, didn't mean to go on and on. But it's a big big topic, and I think we're only getting started on all of the discussion. In fact, if Sony succeeds at moving e-books into the mainstream public, the discussion should really explode. Lots of fun in store!