Quote:
Originally Posted by Elfwreck
The reason ebooks are limited in number is entirely because someone said they should be--that's an artificial scarcity.
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Yes, that's exactly what it is. However, there is a good reason for that "artificial scarcity": It is the established method to compensate creators for their creations, and thereby encourage their creation.
Take away "artificial scarcity," and no one has to pay for anything beyond the very first copy; Creators do not get compensated; and most of them will stop creating, or create much, much less, because they live in a world where people have to work to earn a living.
Those who want creators to create, for zero payment, simply have to figure out a way those creators can make a living, without money, in a money-dominated 21st century world. (And if you do figure it out, be sure and tell someone!)
Quote:
Originally Posted by PKFFW
In this regard consumers need to start admitting that digital media does have value. Consumers must admit that uploading unlimited "copies" of the "content" simply because it is quick and easy to do so is not a smart way to encourage publishers to start seeing ebooks the same as pbooks.
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I disagree on one point here: We should not consider an e-book the same as a printed book, any more than we should consider television the same as a campfire story. They may seem similar on the surface, but in fact are very different entities, both of which have very different rules. The sooner we deal with e-books' differences, instead of trying to fit round things into square holes, the sooner we can work out the methods we all need to adopt to sell and profit from e-books.