[Moejoe]

Originally Posted by Tuna

I've nothing much to add here as I feel PKFFW is making the case very well.

Moejoe, the problem is that single instances of great 'free' works, or things like Radiohead's never to be repeated publicity stunt don't make for a healthy eco-system.

As PKFFW has pointed out, correction of a few typos does not make for a well edited book. Even then, as the focus of end users is unpredictable, for every book that is corrected you'll find half a dozen that aren't. That'll only get worse as the number of ebooks increases. How many people do you think will pick up a book and either (a) put up with typos, loose grammar and unweildy paragraphs or (b)sit down and correct them?

Thousands, if not more will do this. They already do it all the time with Guttenberg texts. They do it here and they format those works with loving care. You see, as many of the industry pundits have pointed out, the future isn't in the product, it's in the context. It's in the niche and the community developed around that niche. So, will we see crowdsourced editing? Of course we will. Will we see digital dust jackets produced for other writers for no fee - yep, of course we will. I'm already doing it.

For all that you decry traditional media, I think we'll find people returning to some of the 'big corporations' once the novelty of watching another cat video or reading some poorly concieved science fiction cliche has worn off. You deplore the output of the BBC, yet they are the ones who have put immense effort into pioneering new media and new delivery mechanisms. They are also the ones who actively find new talent and encourage and develop it. Whilst you might find the majority of their output not to your taste, surely you can recognise that they still produce high quality programmes that suit many corners of the public's interest? Against that, the entire world of 'free' creativity can boast very, very few successes.

The problem with this reasoning is the same problem I have with PKVW's insistence on relating TV to BOOKS. They aren't remotely similar on a cultural level, they don't work on the same kinds of business models or the same kind of distribution channels as fiction or music. Fiction and music are natural fits for the internet. Already most of my music is sourced from Jamendo, its open-source, pay what you like music. My books are sourced from FEEDBOOKS and author websites (no DRM thanks, and no corps). I choose what is good and what is bad from what is offered to me by the creator.

The BBC is a public service, it does not rely on advertising funds, it relies on the taxation of the people. If the BBC actually had to rely on advertising, I reckon ALL of the good programs we see now would disappear. I'd like to move away from the TV, but it seems I keep getting dragged back into comparisons of it. I don't watch TV on the actual TV set I have. I haven't watched any TV like that since the invention of Bittorrent. For me TV is all but irrelevant, especially considering I can download any of it for free at any moment of the day (yes, its not sanctioned, but you can't stop people copying digital bits and sharing them).

As for singularities, the barriers for creative works have been very low for at least the last decade. Writing books and composing music in your 'back room' have been possible for longer, and video production and editing for around that time. Even the distribution mechanisms have been around for nearly as long. Yet we're not surrounded by a flood of new talent, or of singlular creative works. If free was able to deliver the breadth and quality of works that paid currently does we should have seen more evidence of it by now.

You're right, partially, but wrong about the distribution channels. Those channels were not around ten years ago. We didn't have the prevalence of BT, we certainly didn't have FEEDBOOKS for writers, and going back to writers again, we didn't have any standardized ebook formats as we have now with ePub or any ebook readers like the Sony or Kindle. You're only NOT seeing evidence of this great creative work because you're not looking for it. Your eyes are still on the channels they've always been upon. You're still looking toward the big corps to provide you the entertainment, these are your trusted sources. And no, it's not all 'cat' videos and cliched science fiction. It's beautiful magical realism by people like Kelly Link and Benjamin Rosenblum, it's anarchic animated video game reviews every wednesday with Zero Punctuation, it's exciting community based endeavours like Everyblock (they just went open source by the by), its Twitter hashtags and mashups of old videos to new beats. There aren't enough hours in the day to enjoy independently created entertainment. It's all very exciting, it's all very worhwhile, but hey, if that's not your thing, no problem.

The corps are waiting for you. They have market-tested, focus-grouped, products they would like to sell you. Same as it was, same as it shall be.