Quote:
Originally Posted by FizzyWater
I'm guessing it's specifically because of the DRM. How do you make sure the protection is for the intended reader and only the intended reader?
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The restriction, you mean?
DRM is restriction, not protection.
But in any event, simple: do away with the DRM. There are publishers selling DRM-free books and making money at it. If some of them would sign on to a kiosk system, it might give the big guys a reason to come to their senses.
Actually, something like this might be ideal for an authors' consortium like BookView Cafe. Imagine what a boon this would be for small independent bookstores that have limited space and capital: an ebook-selling system like that could increase their inventory enormously. And they'd have out-of-print books (i.e., authors' recovered backlists) that aren't on the shelves anywhere, especially not at the big chains. Want to buy Vonda McIntyre's "Dreamsnake"? (if you haven't, you should) You won't get it at Amazon, but you can get it at BVC. Or at the BVC kiosk.
For a small store, maybe a cheaper and slightly less automated model: you pick out your books at the kiosk (which is really just a cheap PC in a box) and it gives you an order number that you take to the checkout. You pay for that order along with your physical books, and the cashier pops the SD card (or other format of your choice, whatever they stock) into the computer behind the counter, picks your order number off the list of pending orders, and then gives you your chip full of books.
Sure, that would be slow for Border's at closing time, but for Fred's Friendly Bookstore, where there's rarely more than one person at the checkout (and that one person is usually jawing with Fred), it would be perfect.
I can seriously see that as a new model for the neighborhood bookstore, too: Along with physical shelves, they'd have some nice cozy seating for reading, maybe coffee and snacks, a display of new and used ebook readers (they'd take trade-ins) some accessories such as lights, covers, chargers, cards, etc., and then several ebook-selling kiosks. Many of them have the chairs, coffee, etc., already; it gets people to hang around the store, talk books with other people hanging around the store, and say "I'll have one of what he's reading." That's what bookstores used to be, before the giant chains. While I don't miss the painfully limited selection and equally limited hours, I do miss the friendly atmosphere and the feeling that I'm in a place where books are an essential part of life, not just another commodity to be shoveled into a bag and sent out the door, have a nice day, next!
Anyone with a lot more money and industry connections than me want to go in on this? :-p