Quote:
Originally Posted by troykm
its interesting that the book world has seen what doing nothing in the digital music world did to the music industry and are not waiting for the illegal means to take hold. they are all jumping in much quicker with ebook stores and giving us what we want. smart move me thinks.
troykm
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They are not giving me what I want. I want e-books that take advantage of the digital medium (lower prices, flexibility across different devices, easy access, ability to back up, etc.). Publishers are trying to use ebooks in the same way they use paper books, which removes most of the benefit of books being electronic. They want to have their cake and eat it.
They are making a token gesture by generally keeping prices high and keeping DRM schemes that punish honest users. They are making exactly the same mistakes the music industry did (the music industry has since learned from their mistakes, the publishing industry seems doomed to repeat them).
Luckily for publishers, the market for books is very different to the music market. The demographic is older and less concerned with (or understanding of) technology. I would wager that a large number of ebook owners have no idea that they lose their books if they replace their reader with a different brand.
The publishing industry is hurting their long-term viability in an attempt to protect their current business model in a world in which that business model is becoming obsolete. The sooner they ignore the pirates and concentrate on supplying their customers with what they want the better chance they have of surviving.