Quote:
Originally Posted by kjk
I've found the whole eBook battle quite fascinating.
It is obvious from the comments in various threads that a lot of people are quite up in arms about it, and taking sides, vowing celibacy, waving pirate flags, etc.
But, really, what are you afraid of?
1) This will kill the eBook market? (Through piracy, lack of sales)
2) That this will unacceptably slow the adoption of eBooks to the general public?
3) That your least favorite company/publisher/conglomerate in the world might "win" or "lose"? Even though no one really knows what a "win" or "loss" is in this context?
4) That the general public will yawn, and continue to buy Kindles, Nooks, iPads, or whatever, and pay whatever prices end up being set?
Personally? I just feel crappy for the authors...because this whole controversy really shows how low on the totem pole they are in the current scheme of things. But I'm betting on #4.
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First, I'm annoyed that people think $14.99 is too much for a book. Authors deserve more, and books deserve to be valued higher. Trade paperbacks cost this much, after all, and you can tear those pages and have no hope of getting another copy for free.
I've said it for a long time, I'd gladly pay more for eBooks. But I would prefer they not have DRM that I have to rip off, potentially violating laws in my country. I prefer they be fair sales, or if that isn't an option, then I change my disposition and insist on a far lower price. However, I believe that as more ignorant average consumers realize they are being duped about "ownership" then the DRM will come off. It was this same consumer ire, as nearly every device they bought could play digital music, that drove the digital music retailers to push for DRM-free music sales. Eventually the same thing will happen to eBooks. People like to own books. You won't see this same thing happen to movies because by and large, people don't really care to own movies. It's really interesting how different media invokes different sense of ownership and value on wildly varying scales. But I think it's fair to say that bookworms like ownership and will eventually demand it when they realize they've lost it.
Second, I'm annoyed about the support for Amazon when they completely rip off the independents with their awful 70% cut for what amounts to providing a download link on a website and an entry in a search engine. Amazon has a storied history of being anti-competitive, and anti-consumer. Jeff Bezos pushes the most petty issues, and somehow comes out on top. Not to mention that Amazon is really the only online retailer at its scale, there is no practical competitor. Not even Wal-mart has the kind of selection of broad product line that Amazon has. This makes Amazon into a kind of monopoly and any actions they take regarding forcing market prices in a particular direction should be regarded as antitrust material.