MobileRead Forums - View Single Post - Why aren't e-books more successful?

Steven Lyle Jordan · 11-02-2006, 12:09 PM

If the scanning company simply sent the paper copy (or the cover) back to the publisher, the way bookstores do now, the reselling problem should be resolved. But they would still have to deal with the possibility of reselling digital copies, so they may have to jump through some legal hoops to satisfy the publishers that they were not, or were paying royalties on any digital books resold to other than the original party. I'd love to see someone work out a workable price point for this service, but I think we're a long way from that (unless Kinkos or some similar service can work it out).

Attaching an RFID or magnetic strip sounds interesting, but I don't see how you're going to keep just anyone from scanning the books after it's sold (or even before), without some pretty nasty DRM systems...

I am better with e-book prices being closer to PB or used prices... that seems more fair, although there are some pricey PBs out there ($6-8 for a paperback? That's a bit much to me!). E-books are the next step down the value/cost ladder, from original manuscript, to hardback, to paperback, to e-book. I see no reason why we can't expect them to be less in cost. (I left "used" out of that list, because the publisher is not involved in used book sales.)

There are a lot of parallels with cassettes involved here, and that's why I brought up that analogy. Cassettes were cheaper to produce, easier to duplicate than albums, and satisfied consumers who weren't hung up on "100% quality" sound reproductions. They also fit the value/cost ladder, from original recording, to LP, to tape. One difference: Artists didn't used to complain about their albums being "sliced up" and losing their compositional integrity (what a load)...

11-02-2006, 12:09 PM	#78
Steven Lyle Jordan Grand Sorcerer Posts: 8,478 Karma: 5171130 Join Date: Jan 2006 Device: none	If the scanning company simply sent the paper copy (or the cover) back to the publisher, the way bookstores do now, the reselling problem should be resolved. But they would still have to deal with the possibility of reselling digital copies, so they may have to jump through some legal hoops to satisfy the publishers that they were not, or were paying royalties on any digital books resold to other than the original party. I'd love to see someone work out a workable price point for this service, but I think we're a long way from that (unless Kinkos or some similar service can work it out). Attaching an RFID or magnetic strip sounds interesting, but I don't see how you're going to keep just anyone from scanning the books after it's sold (or even before), without some pretty nasty DRM systems... I am better with e-book prices being closer to PB or used prices... that seems more fair, although there are some pricey PBs out there ($6-8 for a paperback? That's a bit much to me!). E-books are the next step down the value/cost ladder, from original manuscript, to hardback, to paperback, to e-book. I see no reason why we can't expect them to be less in cost. (I left "used" out of that list, because the publisher is not involved in used book sales.) There are a lot of parallels with cassettes involved here, and that's why I brought up that analogy. Cassettes were cheaper to produce, easier to duplicate than albums, and satisfied consumers who weren't hung up on "100% quality" sound reproductions. They also fit the value/cost ladder, from original recording, to LP, to tape. One difference: Artists didn't used to complain about their albums being "sliced up" and losing their compositional integrity (what a load)...