Misleading Metaphors That Drive The War On Online Sharing

[emellaich]

I would suggest that there are two different discussions here, and that is the source of some of the tension.

1) What should authors/publishers do to maximize sales and reduce piracy (good marketing).

2) What rights can authors/publishers exert over the works they create.

As an illustration, I don't believe that an author should sell their book for $1 million, but they have the right to do so. Likewise, I am much more likely to buy a low cost, open format ebook with text-to-speech enabled. However, if the creator wants to restrict and overprice the book, then that is their choice. I would get just as far complaining about their plot and I'm better off not buying it.

[Steven Lyle Jordan]

In fact, that's not what this thread is about; as usual, it has been co-opted by those discussions.

Read the thread title... It's very clear.

[Greg Anos]

Originally Posted by Steven Lyle Jordan

In fact, that's not what this thread is about; as usual, it has been co-opted by those discussions.

Read the thread title... It's very clear.

This is a real-life example of not having a common base for metaphor. There are many others with mindsets that don't match yours. They are suffiecently different as to have no point of commonality. No metaphor is going to change those other viewpoints, because it isn't a communication difficulty, but a complete mismatch of worldview.

Each one selects those parts of reality that they are the most in tune with. That doesn't mean they are unaware of the other portions they leave out, they leave them out (or de-emphasize them) by choice. One must accept that they have a different worldview, and see if a common compromise can be reached. And this will never be done when one party won't move off their position (and it doesn't matter which party).

It just devolved into dueling worldviews....

[xg4bx]

"The Sony Walkman was invented in 1978, jump-starting the 80s, which some of us remember as the greatest decade in the history of music. Some of us were also on a lot of cocaine for pretty much the whole thing. There might be a relationship between the two clauses.
But it didn't take long before the music industry started claiming the loss of a (completely unverifiable) billion dollars a year from people taping their favorite tracks off the radio for free."


Read more: 5 Insane File Sharing Panics from Before the Internet | Cracked.com http://www.cracked.com/article_18513...#ixzz1eqeNpcQB


theres some salty language in the article but it does prove a point, the arguments NEVER change. the same arguments today have been had since the invention of the printing press and recorded music. theres a new "this will be the death of...." every single time a new format is invented....yet every bloody time both the publishers and creators profit and thrive.

[Steven Lyle Jordan]

Originally Posted by Ralph Sir Edward

This is a real-life example of not having a common base for metaphor. There are many others with mindsets that don't match yours. They are suffiecently different as to have no point of commonality. No metaphor is going to change those other viewpoints, because it isn't a communication difficulty, but a complete mismatch of worldview.

If so... why is it that the ebook industry seems to be the only one in the world that hasn't managed to deal with these "mismatching worldviews" enough to create viable commerce and regulation? Why can I buy products from China, a country with about as different a "worldview" as the U.S., with no issues whatsoever? Are ebooks really that unique, like no other product in the world?

I don't think so. I think most of these "mismatching worldviews" are flimsy excuses for both sides' refusal to bend. Producers want to maintain existing (print-based) profits; consumers want ebooks for nothing; no one is willing to accept the middle ground.

Even better, I've tried to stand in the middle ground and coax others in the same direction. And I've generally been attacked and criticized for my trouble.

How is this industry ever going to work if both sides won't bend a bit for the other? As it is now, I'm just waiting to see one side or the other break... and that'll be it. No more ebook industry. I know no one wants that. But no one wanted metal detectors at airports, either.

[Greg Anos]

Originally Posted by Steven Lyle Jordan

If so... why is it that the ebook industry seems to be the only one in the world that hasn't managed to deal with these "mismatching worldviews" enough to create viable commerce and regulation? Why can I buy products from China, a country with about as different a "worldview" as the U.S., with no issues whatsoever? Are ebooks really that unique, like no other product in the world?

I don't think so. I think most of these "mismatching worldviews" are flimsy excuses for both sides' refusal to bend. Producers want to maintain existing (print-based) profits; consumers want ebooks for nothing; no one is willing to accept the middle ground.

Even better, I've tried to stand in the middle ground and coax others in the same direction. And I've generally been attacked and criticized for my trouble.

How is this industry ever going to work if both sides won't bend a bit for the other? As it is now, I'm just waiting to see one side or the other break... and that'll be it. No more ebook industry. I know no one wants that. But no one wanted metal detectors at airports, either.

Digital products are different. Look at Hollywood and the Music industry. Have they not had major problems (particularly the music industry)?

All digital products have their creation costs front-loaded; the (re)production cost of the next unit of the same e-books approached zero. In this sort of world, which is not the way making a Chinese e-book reader costs to make, the pressure is for a low price. Not necessarily free, but a low price. Some e-book producers (such as Baen and Harlequin) grasp this, but the majority of the big ones refuse to accept it. <shrug>

And the e-product is often shoddy. Worse, once a shoddy product is released, unless it's a current big name, it doesn't get fixed.

A high price for a shoddy product spells "D E T R O I T" to most consumers, with the same resuilts...

Moral high ground? I wish the big 6 publisher had taken the high ground. But they're 4 square around extending copyrights through bribing Congressidiots. They and the authors made a contract when they published the works in the first place, honor the <blank blank> contract! They steal from the public just as much as they claim the public steals from them...no moral high ground there...

Shoddy product, high prices, obnoxious DRM, unilateral copyright extensions...This is finding a middle ground?

Steve, I don't blame you or attack you on this. My bile, and most others is towards the big 6 publishers. And they don't care about their customers...

[murraypaul]

Originally Posted by Steven Lyle Jordan

Another person who believes Big Brother is under every rock and behind every tree, watching every citizen in the world via ultra-telescopic satellites, and that the tiniest bit of personal information given up to the tiniest store clerk will bring the Gestapo one step closer to breaking down their doors and throwing them in the hole for having freckles or reading Joyce.

Laugh.
Yes, it is like these people think a company would pay to drive camera equipped cars up and down every road in the country to photograph all of their houses.
Oh, wait, that happened.
And they snooped on everyone's WiFi signals while they were doing it.

[Bilbo1967]

Originally Posted by murraypaul

Laugh.
Yes, it is like these people think a company would pay to drive camera equipped cars up and down every road in the country to photograph all of their houses.
Oh, wait, that happened.
And they snooped on everyone's WiFi signals while they were doing it.

Tin foil hats on, everybody!

[Steven Lyle Jordan]

Originally Posted by Ralph Sir Edward

Steve, I don't blame you or attack you on this. My bile, and most others is towards the big 6 publishers. And they don't care about their customers...

And I don't behave like the major publishers. Unfortunately, I get tarred by the same brush, as do most indie authors.

I realize digital products are unique. But movies, software, even MP3 files have found a viable selling model that (mostly) satisfies all parties. I don't see ebooks as being that unique.

[Quexos]

I'm reading all your written comments and I'm not paying a cent for that. Am I a pirate ?

[Steven Lyle Jordan]

Originally Posted by Quexos

I'm reading all your written comments and I'm not paying a cent for that. Am I a pirate ?

No, because I didn't ask you or anyone else to pay for my comments.

[Quexos]

Good cause if you had asked me to pay in accordance with all the copyright laws out there, I could not buy my right to read these comments, you know, geographical restrictions, credit cards demanded that I don't have and whatever other annoyances one can imagine.
Free is much more simple for info and culture to go through.

Originally Posted by Steven Lyle Jordan

No, because I didn't ask you or anyone else to pay for my comments.

[Steven Lyle Jordan]

Originally Posted by Quexos

Free is much more simple for info and culture to go through.

If only my mortgage, food, gasoline, train tickets, car repairs and payments were free, too. As soon as you manage those feats, you can talk to me about giving my work away. Until then...

[HansTWN]

Originally Posted by Quexos

Good cause if you had asked me to pay in accordance with all the copyright laws out there, I could not buy my right to read these comments, you know, geographical restrictions, credit cards demanded that I don't have and whatever other annoyances one can imagine.
Free is much more simple for info and culture to go through.

Free is also much simpler for your job -- my guess is that you never take any money for your work?

[mr ploppy]

Originally Posted by Steven Lyle Jordan

I realize digital products are unique. But movies, software, even MP3 files have found a viable selling model that (mostly) satisfies all parties. I don't see ebooks as being that unique.

If anything the ebook model as used by Amazon is even more viable because it ties readers to one place for all their purchases. Apple tried to do that with mp3, but failed. It learnt from that lesson with the iPad, but there are still companies that get around that (including Amazon).