MobileRead Forums - View Single Post - "The book industry is gonna get Napstered..."

ficbot · 07-23-2009, 08:47 AM

Is there 'value' in a digital work depends on how the digital work is presented. Is the $4-5 I pay for multiformat titles on Fictionwise worth it? In some cases, yes. In some cases, no. I would like a sample chapter to be mandatory so I can be a better judge, the same way I could read a few pages in a bricks and mortar bookstore, but caveat emptor, I suppose. For the most part, I am quite happy to pay for the book, go to my bookshelf and download it in the format I choose.

Start slapping all sorts of restrictions on it though, and its value diminishes. Only read on this many devices or on this specific platform? Encumbered by DRM I must go through manual labour to remove? And then they complain that more people don't want to pay for it?

We need one of two things to happen. Either everything needs to go multiformat, so one can easily buy it, download it in the format they choose and away they go (and they own it, can come back to their bookshelf later and download again if need be, can read on whatever devices they own etc.) OR we need to have a common, widely accepted format that everyone uses, and it will be like iTunes where no matter what device you have, you can download the item, load it on with one click, and be done.

Is it possible some people will still 'steal' the books? Of course it is. Nobody can ever prevent that. The corner grocer has to budget into his year a certain amount of loss to teenagers shoplifting candy bars, it's the same thing. But if you start with a mutual respect where you offer a useable product at a fair price and you make it easy for your customers to enjoy their purchase in the legal ways they choose (e.g. on whatever device they want, as many times as they want etc) then most people, as iTunes has shown us, really will behave like sensible, rational and fair people.

I blame the 'industry' for setting up this adversarial position. They treat us not like customers but like thieves-in-waiting, and they view their job not so much as 'suppliers of quality books' than as 'enforcers who must thwart us from being criminals.'

07-23-2009, 08:47 AM	#140
ficbot Wizard Posts: 2,409 Karma: 4132096 Join Date: Sep 2008 Device: Kindle Paperwhite/iOS Kindle App	Is there 'value' in a digital work depends on how the digital work is presented. Is the $4-5 I pay for multiformat titles on Fictionwise worth it? In some cases, yes. In some cases, no. I would like a sample chapter to be mandatory so I can be a better judge, the same way I could read a few pages in a bricks and mortar bookstore, but caveat emptor, I suppose. For the most part, I am quite happy to pay for the book, go to my bookshelf and download it in the format I choose. Start slapping all sorts of restrictions on it though, and its value diminishes. Only read on this many devices or on this specific platform? Encumbered by DRM I must go through manual labour to remove? And then they complain that more people don't want to pay for it? We need one of two things to happen. Either everything needs to go multiformat, so one can easily buy it, download it in the format they choose and away they go (and they own it, can come back to their bookshelf later and download again if need be, can read on whatever devices they own etc.) OR we need to have a common, widely accepted format that everyone uses, and it will be like iTunes where no matter what device you have, you can download the item, load it on with one click, and be done. Is it possible some people will still 'steal' the books? Of course it is. Nobody can ever prevent that. The corner grocer has to budget into his year a certain amount of loss to teenagers shoplifting candy bars, it's the same thing. But if you start with a mutual respect where you offer a useable product at a fair price and you make it easy for your customers to enjoy their purchase in the legal ways they choose (e.g. on whatever device they want, as many times as they want etc) then most people, as iTunes has shown us, really will behave like sensible, rational and fair people. I blame the 'industry' for setting up this adversarial position. They treat us not like customers but like thieves-in-waiting, and they view their job not so much as 'suppliers of quality books' than as 'enforcers who must thwart us from being criminals.'