E-books to outsell print by 2018 says new report

[speakingtohe]

Originally Posted by ereaderSam

Then if we ever lose electricity books will be gone forever.

If we ever lose electricity we will be gone forever.

Helen

Edit the human body needs electricity to function

[QuantumIguana]

Originally Posted by latepaul

If we ever lose electricity books will be the least of our problems. Western civilisation pretty much depends on electricity. Yes we'd survive, adapt without it - but it'd be painful and take a while.

Any disaster that could take out electricity for good would take out most of our paper books too. People wouldn't have time for books, and they would rot. Books would become convenient kindling. Oh, sure some would survive that were lucky enough to be kept in a safe, dry place, and maybe even be actively preserved, but most would be lost.

[wizwor]

No surprise. I 'bought' a dozen for $0.00 ;-)

Lies, damn lies, and statistics!

[wizwor]

Originally Posted by ereaderSam

Then if we ever lose electricity books will be gone forever.

This is already a silly statement. We have lost 'the grid' for more than a week twice in the last five years. With broadcast tv and a portable generator, life was pretty normal.

At the same time, we have seen solar generators and even a little wood generator his the mass market.

We're very close to portable devices that never need to be explicitly recharged.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by jswinden

Nah, still plenty of clay tablets written 6500 years ago that would be around.

Could you elaborate? The oldest clay tablets I'm aware of Sumerian tablets from approximately 3000BC - ie 5000 years ago, give or take. What are you referring to that's 1500 years older than those?

[SteveEisenberg]

Originally Posted by HarryT

Could you elaborate? The oldest clay tablets I'm aware of Sumerian tablets from approximately 3000BC - ie 5000 years ago, give or take. What are you referring to that's 1500 years older than those?

Now here is a question which, unlike the one raised by the thread title, can actually be answered without waiting until 2018.

Re the OP, I have another unanswerable question -- when will you be able to buy a decent ePub knockoff of the basic Kindle at Poundland (where everything is £1), or, at least, fiveBelow (maximum price US$5)? If someone can answer that, I'm thinking we'll then know when eBooks will not just outsell print, but do so by such a decisive margin as to put immersive reading p-books on a steep and permanent downward spiral.

[speakingtohe]

Originally Posted by SteveEisenberg

Now here is a question which, unlike the one raised by the thread title, can actually be answered without waiting until 2018.

Re the OP, I have another unanswerable question -- when will you be able to buy a decent ePub knockoff of the basic Kindle at Poundland (where everything is £1), or, at least, fiveBelow (maximum price US$5)? If someone can answer that, I'm thinking we'll then know when eBooks will not just outsell print, but do so by such a decisive margin as to put immersive reading p-books on a steep and permanent downward spiral.

I am thinking never if by specifying kindle you mean a knockoff device with an eink screen that will allow people to buy from Amazon the same as kindle.
Or right possibly now as so many people have devices that allow them to install the kindle app with no additional expense.

So maybe the only thing stopping a lot of people from laying out cash for ebooks is that they still prefer paper. A cheap kindle knockoff will be unlikely to change that.

Of course kindle knockoffs might just start showing up in Dollar stores next week, and all the bargain hunters will start madly buying ebooks just because they got a bargain ereader. Who knows.

Helen

[crossi]

Originally Posted by speakingtohe

I am thinking never if by specifying kindle you mean a knockoff device with an eink screen that will allow people to buy from Amazon the same as kindle.
Or right possibly now as so many people have devices that allow them to install the kindle app with no additional expense.

So maybe the only thing stopping a lot of people from laying out cash for ebooks is that they still prefer paper. A cheap kindle knockoff will be unlikely to change that.

Of course kindle knockoffs might just start showing up in Dollar stores next week, and all the bargain hunters will start madly buying ebooks just because they got a bargain ereader. Who knows.

Helen

Why not once you get rid of DRM? After all I can buy mp3 downloads from Amazon or even Apple and play them on any mp3 player? Why NOT books?

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by crossi

Why not once you get rid of DRM? After all I can buy mp3 downloads from Amazon or even Apple and play them on any mp3 player? Why NOT books?

Amazon sell the Kindle at cost price (because they want you to buy their content). It would be difficult for anyone else to make a reader with a comparable specification for a lower price.

[fjtorres]

Originally Posted by crossi

Why not once you get rid of DRM? After all I can buy mp3 downloads from Amazon or even Apple and play them on any mp3 player? Why NOT books?

Because the traditional publishers aren't yet as desperate as the music studios.
Because the emergence of the walled gardens has minimized the napsterization of ebooks.
Because book buyers have different demographics and usage habits than music listeners.
Because a hoard of tens of thousands of songs is a few weeks' listening and a comparable hoard of books is more than anybody not named Lazarus Long can aspire to read.

Basically, the BPHs don't have to.
Indie publishers, however, tend to go DRM free because they value reader goodwill.

There are lessons to learn from the media markets but the parallels don't go all the way. There are differences and the differences matter.

[speakingtohe]

Originally Posted by crossi

Why not once you get rid of DRM? After all I can buy mp3 downloads from Amazon or even Apple and play them on any mp3 player? Why NOT books?

To add to what fjtorres said:
The demographics are different with less children/teens downloading books. The average adult kindle user in my experience is more concerned with convenience and ease of purchase than saving $10 or so a month. Most of them don't even try to find bargains. One guy a while back told me he just bought 8 books for under $100. I asked were they on sale and he said he didn't know they had sales.

If money matters, which it does to a lot, then they often buy an epub capable reader to use at the library or shop the sales/coupons.

And as fjtorres one can listen to more songs than read books. Not sure about tens of thousands in a week, but probably 1,000 is easily achievable or 50,000 songs a year. 1000 books might take longer.

I am not sure why you think DRM will disappear in the near future as you imply.

Adobe DRM has been around for 7 years and shows no signs of disappearing. Neither does Amazon DRM. Before that there were other forms that are now obsolete but the DRM is not gone it has been replaced.

Tor has gone DRM free as have a few others and while they say it hasn't hurt business, they do not say it has helped business in any way.

While I am not a fan of DRM (basically I am ambivalent) I think it is a bit unrealistic to expect it to disappear when a big majority of publishers, venders and established authors/rights holders are using it.

Helen

[conan50]

I don't think DRM will disappear until B&N or Amazon goes under and people are left with lots of ebooks they can no longer read, at least when their devices break or wear out. Also possible that ebook formats could shift quickly enough to leave some people and their devices ebooks behind.
DRM is bad on so many levels that I wish it a quick death. Ownership of ebooks that people 'buy' is a lie that these stores should be called out on. I'm only buying DRM free ebooks from now on except in rare circumstances. If everyone took that approach then DRM would be gone tomorrow, Amazon would insist on it.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by conan50

DRM is bad on so many levels that I wish it a quick death.

Can you explain how you believe library lending could operate without DRM?

[conan50]

Originally Posted by HarryT

Can you explain how you believe library lending could operate without DRM?

I don't mind DRM for library lending, that does not seem unreasonable to me.
But either we are buying or renting the ebooks from places like Amazon and B&N. If we are renting, they should make it clear, and prices should be more in line with movie rentals online, maybe 3-5 dollars. I would not mind paying 3-5 dollars more than current prices for ebooks that are actually mine, that I could read DRM free across any device or computer paradigm. Just Like Music :-)

[speakingtohe]

Originally Posted by conan50

I don't think DRM will disappear until B&N or Amazon goes under and people are left with lots of ebooks they can no longer read, at least when their devices break or wear out. Also possible that ebook formats could shift quickly enough to leave some people and their devices ebooks behind.
DRM is bad on so many levels that I wish it a quick death. Ownership of ebooks that people 'buy' is a lie that these stores should be called out on. I'm only buying DRM free ebooks from now on except in rare circumstances. If everyone took that approach then DRM would be gone tomorrow, Amazon would insist on it.

You do realize that this has happened in the past. There are no popular modern readers that support lrf or lit and probably a few other formats.

I doubt B&N going under will have a bigger effect and I am sure that if Amazon went under and most of the kindles broke, that would make a difference to the world at large, but not to DRM. Many publishers/authors etc. already use both Amazon and Adobe DRM. Would be simpler for them.

Are you that confident Amazon is going under soon? are you short selling stock or making wagers? Just curious.

Helen