Amazon in talks to launch digital book library -WSJ

[Ben Thornton]

Originally Posted by stonetools

It wouldn't include the latest and the greatest, and it is likely that the publishers would allow only the books that are on deep backlist into such a pool.

I wish the publishers would allow their "deep backlist" on my ereader at all - in any form. There are loads of books that I'd like electronically, which are not yet published as ebooks - not sure why there isn't a market for it when so many have been privately scanned by people and could be had from the Dark Side. If this acted as an encouragement to make more backlist available, it would be great news. Perhaps a large pool of material that currently earns them next to nothing would be worth digitising as a pool of content for subscribers, without hitting their revenue for new titles.

[JSWolf]

Does anyone really think the agency 6 will actually allow their eBooks to be rented? I think they won't. This won't work well without them (IMHO).

[stonetools]

Originally Posted by Ben Thornton

I wish the publishers would allow their "deep backlist" on my ereader at all - in any form. There are loads of books that I'd like electronically, which are not yet published as ebooks - not sure why there isn't a market for it when so many have been privately scanned by people and could be had from the Dark Side. If this acted as an encouragement to make more backlist available, it would be great news. Perhaps a large pool of material that currently earns them next to nothing would be worth digitising as a pool of content for subscribers, without hitting their revenue for new titles.

That will no doubt be an argument Amazon will be making. They'll also fervently argue the anti-piracy implications. Streaming ebooks means much less worry about piracy and casual sharing. Mike Shatzkin, the publishing consultant, has quoted one publishing consultant who specifically endorses a cloud/streaming model on that ground.

“There isn’t really a piracy problem but there isn’t really an alternative to DRM except for the cloud. The cloud means that you buy a product (NB: I personally would say you “license some content”, not you “buy a product”) and you get to access it on every device that you own — so long as you provide your ownership credentials. The cloud effectively means that you work only within a platform and that platform requires your credentials to access your works — so it is, in effect, DRM — but it really isn’t. That said, in order for this to work, it does need to protect files when they are downloaded — and that is true DRM.

SHATZKIN ON THE CLOUD

[kjk]

Originally Posted by stonetools

That will no doubt be an argument Amazon will be making.

That was also the argument Netflix's CEO Reed Hastings has made to studios-"rerun TV" as opposed to trying to compete with first run content. I think it worked initially, but the studios have become a lot warier. Hard to say how the publishing industry (even more conservative than Hollywood, it seems) will react.

[JSWolf]

It will help increase piracy. You just rent the eBooks, strip the DRM and share away. It will cost a lot less to pirate then before.

[DianNC]

It will never happen, but I've always thought it would be cool to have something like Redbox...only for books! (They could put it right next to the one for movies lol).

[stonetools]

Originally Posted by kjk

That was also the argument Netflix's CEO Reed Hastings has made to studios-"rerun TV" as opposed to trying to compete with first run content. I think it worked initially, but the studios have become a lot warier. Hard to say how the publishing industry (even more conservative than Hollywood, it seems) will react.

I think that the publishing industry will come round slowly. Hey, even with the "progressive" movie industry, it took years for them to give up their opposition even to the idea of permitting sales of pre-recorded videotapes of their movies. I expect to publishing industry to agree first to rentals, then after a few years to streaming. The lure of making money from their unproductive backlist will be what will compel change.

[stonetools]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

It will help increase piracy. You just rent the eBooks, strip the DRM and share away. It will cost a lot less to pirate then before.

That argument did not stop the introduction of, and subsequent blossoming of the movie rental business. That argument will fail again, and for the same reason: if the publishing industry can make enough money off ebook rentals, it won't care if it becomes cheaper to pirate its content.

[gojisube]

Originally Posted by DianNC

It will never happen, but I've always thought it would be cool to have something like Redbox...only for books! (They could put it right next to the one for movies lol).

Like this?
http://www.flickr.com/photos/dwig/5454224618/

[kennyc]

Just ran across this:


Amazon Plans Netflix of Book
Greg Tito | 12 Sep 2011 2:32 pm
Filed under: greg tito, amazon, books, business, netflix
image

Soon you'll be able to subscribe to Amazon Prime and download any book to your device.

Print is dead. People have been saying that for years but Jeff Bezos' Amazon might be the company that actually brings about the Book-mageddon. After the public resisting the concept of electronic books for a generation - even though we had the technology - Amazon's Kindle device has slowly saturated the market of the world's book readers. With the Kindle, you still have to buy a "copy" of electronic books - which can sometimes cost more than a paperback of the same title - but now in the works is a subscription model. Amazon will charge $79 for an annual membership to its Prime service, which will include unlimited downloads of any book in its library. As reported by the Wall Street Journal today, Amazon is negotiating with book publishers for such deals right now.

http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news...etflix-of-Book

and on CNET:
http://news.cnet.com/8301-30685_3-20...s-should-join/

[Ben Thornton]

Thanks for the link Kenny - interesting, but the $6million question is how many publishers they could get on board. For keen readers, an all-you-can-eat deal like that would seem too good to be true - and I suspect it probably is. Still, we live in hope!

[OtterBooks]

Soon you'll be able to subscribe to Amazon Prime and download any book to your device

Seems like they would really need to jack up the price of Amazon Prime for this, especially with all the other Prime perks. I don't see it being included with Prime, especially not if Prime is bundled with Amazon's upcoming devices(according to the unconfirmed info).

[JSWolf]

I can easily see publishers bowing out of this rental deal and I would not blame them at all for doing so. It's bad for their business. Amazon gets $79 and for an entire yar, you can have as many eBooks as you can read. Not good for the publishers and the authors.

This is one case if the agency 6 bowed out, I would not be surprised and would not be bothered.

[anamardoll]

Maybe Prime and "selected" books, like with "selected" videos?

But, yeah, seconding that $80 a year for unlimited books without waiting lists (assuming there are none) is not something that publishers are going to sign onto, I think.

[kennyc]

Originally Posted by Ben Thornton

Thanks for the link Kenny - interesting, but the $6million question is how many publishers they could get on board. For keen readers, an all-you-can-eat deal like that would seem too good to be true - and I suspect it probably is. Still, we live in hope!

Well, yeah, I'm guessing is that even if they somehow pull it off the selection would be quite limited.

A bit like joining a book club, it looks great at first but when you see the same selections for the 12 month in a row, it begins to lose it's appeal.