Quote:
Originally Posted by jasonkchapman
Exactly! And the fact that B&N managed to get this much of a concession from any of the major houses is a testament to their 600-pound-gorillaness in the market space.
|
Or a testament to publisher desperation.
The ones against are terrified of anything that might cost them a sale. The ones in favor are hoping lending might
generate a sale.
Unfortunately, this feature has a long way to go to be as useful as it might be. A reply from a moderator on a Barnes and Noble forum about the nook confirmed what th4e FAQ seemed to say: that not all books were lendable, and those that were could be lent
once, for a 14 day period. So if I lend a book on my nook to you to read on yours, I can't then lend it to anyone else, even after you're done with it. This does not replicate the paper book experience, where serial lending is possible.
Quote:
|
We seem to go through this every time a new feature/restriction couplet appears on a device. E-book reading systems (roughly: hardware/software/delivery mechanism) are always balancing acts. They've got end user demands on one side and publisher demands on the other. Folks like B&N are trying to find a way to get both ends to meet in the middle, while still making money.
|
Exactly.
Quote:
In one sense, B&N, Sony, Amazon, etc. are acting as consumer advocates in the e-book space, trying to get concessions out of publishers to meet the demands of consumers. The more concessions they can get from the publishers, the more features they can offer.
Eventually, the publishers will come around, but it's an incremental change.
|
Agreed, and some publishers may go belly up before actually learning useful lessons.
______
Dennis