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Originally Posted by Falbe Publishing
I suppose the case could be argued that every format needs a unique identifier
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If different formats are sold separately, then they need different ISBNs, otherwise you break the entire rationale of the system. Distributors and retailers need to be able to refer to a specific product solely through the ISBN. If not, then they'll just end up developing another parallel system and we'll be in more of a mess.
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but there's NO WAY I'm going to pay for an identifier for every format of every ebook I produce
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Yeah, that's certainly an important concern. Another is the inefficient nature of the current system, whose segmentation must mean there are large amounts of allocated-but-unused ISBNs.
If the almost-trivial change of moving to 13-digit EAN codes was a 'large upheaval' then I shudder to think what will happen when real change is needed
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