The article does acknowledge the essential question:
Quote:
|
Why do companies and publishers have as their first and foremost concern protecting themselves from readers, their customer base, as if the reader’s primary concern was stealing and bringing them down ? Are they so certain that the overwhelming majority of readers still wouldn’t legally buy ebooks were they sold under fair prices and terms ?
|
This is the issue that every company has to deal with, in order to establish a successful business. It's a basic business equation that is 50% desire, 50% trust, with the intention of profiting from the arrangement (and it is important to note that these terms apply to company and consumer alike). If this equation is unbalanced in either direction, the business model will not function.
And unfortunately, the digital realm is forcing alterations to the basic business equation that will impact both sides... and neither side seems to want to accept that. Both sides are demanding changes of the other, without wanting to relinquish any control themselves, and encountering heated resistance. It's become a perpetual tug-of-war, with mud both between the opponents, and behind them... so whoever wins or loses, everyone will get muddy.
We are still early in the digital business revolution, and hopefully other industries (like book publishers) will learn the real lessons of the digital music tug-of-war. But I think they're going to get very muddy first, before they finally come to their senses.