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maggotb0y · 05-20-2009, 10:10 AM

I'll answer your simile with another one. Let's say that the hardback book you bought could only be read with a certain type of lightbulb. The market for these special lightbulbs is growing fast, and the manufacturers aren't making that much money on them. Different publishers have selected different types of lightbulbs that will make their book viewable.

Would you buy a book that could only be read with a special light bulb or pass for one of the millions and millions of books that can be read under good old fashioned sunlight?

Everyone in this discussion is saying that they'd rather pass than buy such a book, and your response is to call them thieves. If you yourself are interested in seeing the other side of your position, I'd urge you to take a look at the successes of Cory Doctorow, who has gained a book purchasing audience by not only distributing DRM free electronic books, but by doing so for FREE! The truth is that there is plenty of free competition out there for an author's books, most of which are perfectly legal - getting lost in the argument of whether people will choose the illegal thing is not going to get you anywhere. The real question is, "how do I get my product into the hands of as many paying customers as possible?" If releasing your wife's book with DRM forces some people to pass altogether on your wife's book, or encourages pirates to crack the DRM or scan the pbook and post it to scribd, the net result is that there are sales lost as a result.

The "proof" or statistics for either side of this argument regarding ebooks simply doesn't exist, because ebooks and book piracy are still relatively new and the numbers are small (hey, the number of peoples who even read books, pirated or not is pretty small). The music industry has been largely destroyed by DRM, and is just now getting around to acknowledging that, and switching to DRM free distribution models. Seems to me a pretty good admission from the music industry that DRM was a failure. Perhaps book publishers (and authors) should try to learn from this history.

05-20-2009, 10:10 AM	#57
maggotb0y Connoisseur Posts: 84 Karma: 1166 Join Date: Apr 2007 Location: New Jersey, Outside of Philadelphia Device: Sony Reader	I'll answer your simile with another one. Let's say that the hardback book you bought could only be read with a certain type of lightbulb. The market for these special lightbulbs is growing fast, and the manufacturers aren't making that much money on them. Different publishers have selected different types of lightbulbs that will make their book viewable. Would you buy a book that could only be read with a special light bulb or pass for one of the millions and millions of books that can be read under good old fashioned sunlight? Everyone in this discussion is saying that they'd rather pass than buy such a book, and your response is to call them thieves. If you yourself are interested in seeing the other side of your position, I'd urge you to take a look at the successes of Cory Doctorow, who has gained a book purchasing audience by not only distributing DRM free electronic books, but by doing so for FREE! The truth is that there is plenty of free competition out there for an author's books, most of which are perfectly legal - getting lost in the argument of whether people will choose the illegal thing is not going to get you anywhere. The real question is, "how do I get my product into the hands of as many paying customers as possible?" If releasing your wife's book with DRM forces some people to pass altogether on your wife's book, or encourages pirates to crack the DRM or scan the pbook and post it to scribd, the net result is that there are sales lost as a result. The "proof" or statistics for either side of this argument regarding ebooks simply doesn't exist, because ebooks and book piracy are still relatively new and the numbers are small (hey, the number of peoples who even read books, pirated or not is pretty small). The music industry has been largely destroyed by DRM, and is just now getting around to acknowledging that, and switching to DRM free distribution models. Seems to me a pretty good admission from the music industry that DRM was a failure. Perhaps book publishers (and authors) should try to learn from this history.