Unlocking the Gates of Alexandria: DRM, Competition and Access to E-Books

[Fbone]

I subscribe to Netflix but don't utilize it much. However, an ebook subscription doesn't appeal to me even at $9/month. I spend less than that each month for my BPH ebooks.

[AnemicOak]

Originally Posted by HarryT

Yes. As a classical music aficionado, I get far better sound quality from my extremely good quality CD player and HiFi system than from digital music. I buy all my music on CD. I'm not aware of any digital download service that sells music that's as good a quality as you get from a CD

http://www.eclassical.com is just one of many sites selling 320kbit MP3, 16-bit FLAC (CD Quality) and 24-bit FLAC (Studio Quality) downloads.

[j.p.s]

Originally Posted by HarryT

Yes. As a classical music aficionado, I get far better sound quality from my extremely good quality CD player and HiFi system than from digital music.

The music on CDs is digital.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by j.p.s

The music on CDs is digital.

I think that you know precisely what I meant.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by AnemicOak

http://www.eclassical.com is just one of many sites selling 320kbit MP3, 16-bit FLAC (CD Quality) and 24-bit FLAC (Studio Quality) downloads.

Thank you very much indeed - I hadn't come across them.

[LadyKate]

My main complaint about most book subscription services is that I don't like the ebook readers that you must use to connect to them. I normally don't have wifi connected when I read unless I want to load a book (longer battery life with it turned off) and I am rather set in my ways.

I prefer the way I can configure MoonReader Pro to move forward by tapping the left side of the screen. It suits the way I hold my tablet in my right hand and I find having to move forward with a left hand tap takes thinking about so disrupts my reading experience.

[John F]

Originally Posted by HarryT

Yes. As a classical music aficionado, I get far better sound quality from my extremely good quality CD player and HiFi system than from digital music. I buy all my music on CD. I'm not aware of any digital download service that sells music that's as good a quality as you get from a CD; most sell 128kbit or 160kbit MP3s, which are nowhere near as good. Probably doesn't matter for pop music that's going to be listened to on crappy earphones, but the difference is blindingly obvious on a decent HiFi system.

Originally Posted by AnemicOak

http://www.eclassical.com is just one of many sites selling 320kbit MP3, 16-bit FLAC (CD Quality) and 24-bit FLAC (Studio Quality) downloads.

And a quick search returns some more:

http://www.digitaltrends.com/music/b...ding-hd-music/

[pwalker8]

Originally Posted by AnemicOak

http://www.eclassical.com is just one of many sites selling 320kbit MP3, 16-bit FLAC (CD Quality) and 24-bit FLAC (Studio Quality) downloads.

Way cool! Thanks for posting.

Just picked up two collections of Sibelius as performed by the Lahti Symphony Orchestra, the Tone Poems and the Symphonies. I've actually got mp3 of most of these songs, but it should make for some interesting comparisons. I did have to convince my bank that it wasn't credit card fraud (me in Atlanta, GA - store in Sweden), but I got it done.

[pwalker8]

Originally Posted by HarryT

Yes. As a classical music aficionado, I get far better sound quality from my extremely good quality CD player and HiFi system than from digital music. I buy all my music on CD. I'm not aware of any digital download service that sells music that's as good a quality as you get from a CD; most sell 128kbit or 160kbit MP3s, which are nowhere near as good. Probably doesn't matter for pop music that's going to be listened to on crappy earphones, but the difference is blindingly obvious on a decent HiFi system.

The extreme audio buff market is very much a niche market.

Digital classical music has some interesting pluses and minuses. On the minus side, the audio quality of mp3 isn't nearly as good as a high quality master recording and it shows up much more in classical than it does in any other type of music. On the plus side, is that one can now get a copy of just about anything ever made these days. I have three different versions of Tchaikovsky's 1812 overture, - The Dorati version, The Berlin Phil. and the Israeli Phil. The Dorati version was impossible to find locally.

[ZodWallop]

Originally Posted by ApK

Unless you run in a circle that lights cigars with $20 bills and buys new cars every year, this is unlikely.

Kindles are fragile and (compared to books) expensive, and many people don't even lend books.
I certainly wouldn't go around lending a fragile expensive piece of equipment like it was a paperback.

A group of people where I work do that. They trade a combination of hardbacks, paperbacks and a couple of Kindles back and forth. And believe me, they aren't the type of people who would be likely to light a cigar with any form of currency.

[ApK]

Originally Posted by ZodWallop

A group of people where I work do that. They trade a combination of hardbacks, paperbacks and a couple of Kindles back and forth. And believe me, they aren't the type of people who would be likely to light a cigar with any form of currency.

I'm sure, but you and I would have to encounter a large number of folks doing that to convince me that device.sharing represented some significant fraction of casual sharing behavior--enough to make it a counter argument for DRM.

[shalym]

Originally Posted by ApK

I'm sure, but you and I would have to encounter a large number of folks doing that to convince me that device.sharing represented some significant fraction of casual sharing behavior--enough to make it a counter argument for DRM.

Well, here's another one for you data collection...I just loaned my Paperwhite to a person yesterday. I fully expect to get it back in a few weeks when she returns from her vacation.

I do this regularly...and I've never had it get broken, lost, or anything else.

Shari

[ApK]

Originally Posted by shalym

I do this regularly...and I've never had it get broken, lost, or anything else.

Do you think you're a typical ebook clubber in this regards? I see you have multiple e-ink devices, which already makes you atypical.(we enthusiasts don't drive the market.)

Do you have your vacationing friend's device in exchange?

Do you do this as coordinated effort so that you can both avoid buying copies of the same books?

Unless all those answers are yes, then it's not what I'm talking about. I didn't say no-one ever lend an Ereader. In fact we've mentioned.doing that as a sharing option from time to time here.
I said that behavior is not an example of the kind of casual sharing that should be held up as a counter argument for the usefulness of DRM. Its not the way the casual user avoids paying for ebooks.
And even if it became common (and if devices get cheaper and more durable, maybe it will) it's still would not really be the kind of behavior DRM targets, which typically involves GIVING a duplicate, not lending some thing you expect returned.

Not that I doubt some publushers would like to eliminate all lending of all types, including libraries.

[ApK]

Originally Posted by shalym

I do this regularly...and I've never had it get broken, lost, or anything else.

Do you think you're a typical ebook clubber in this regard? I see you have multiple e-ink devices, which already makes you atypical.(we enthusiasts don't drive the market.)

Do you have your vacationing friend's device in exchange?

Do you do this as coordinated effort so that you can both avoid buying copies of the same books?

Unless all those answers are yes, then it's not what I'm talking about. I didn't say no one ever lends an Ereader. In fact we've mentioned doing that as a sharing option from time to time here.
I said that behavior is not an example of the kind of casual sharing that should be held up as a counter argument for the usefulness of DRM. Its not the way the casual user avoids paying for ebooks.
And even if it became common (and if devices get cheaper and more durable, maybe it will) it's still would not really be the kind of behavior DRM targets, which typically involves GIVING a duplicate, not lending some thing you expect returned.

Not that I doubt some publushers would like to eliminate all lending of all types, including libraries.

[DiapDealer]

Originally Posted by ApK

I said that behavior is not an example of the kind of casual sharing that should be held up as a counter argument for the usefulness of DRM. Its not the way the casual user avoids paying for ebooks.

To be quite honest: I don't believe the number of casual users looking to avoid paying for ebooks represents a large enough number to be held up as a pro argument for the usefulness of DRM either. We can't know what we don't know.