“Sony Developing New DRM to Make Used eBooks Viable”

[BearMountainBooks]

Originally Posted by banjomike

Not sure about that. Many of my friends and colleagues (and me) are more likely to buy a textbook in a printed format because 1) it is easier to use and 2) it DOES have a secondhand market. My local University bookshop has a mountain of used print books at the start of each new term which very quickly sell out while I only know a handful of people who have ever bought an ebook version of a tech manual. Many are a similar price to the print version but print is often easier to use (for one thing, the batteries don't run out). Something that might, possibly, tip people into buying new ebooks instead of a secondhand print book might be looked upon with kindly eyes.

There's a market for it from the consumer, but not from the publisher. Even if they made money initially by being more popular because they "buy back" a book after the buyer was finished with it, there's not a lot of incentive for them to do this. The buyers must buy a book. It's a captive market. WIthout the book they suffer. I can see an upstart publisher trying it, but I don't see how it would catch on. They would just bump prices up to make up for the "return on your bottle."

[rkomar]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

On the contrary. I can't think of any (big, commercial) publisher that would want to encourage a second-hand market in ebooks.

...unless there was some way they got paid in the process. Perhaps there would be a book-specific fee for transferring ownership. Don't the Germans have something in place for paying publishers of used paper books? Something similar could be put into place for ebooks.

Originally Posted by pdurrant

On the contrary. I can't think of any (big, commercial) publisher that would want to encourage a second-hand market in ebooks.

Publishers may find used ebook sales desirable if it is accompanied by an increase in ebook sales: as a means of capturing consumers who wouldn't purchase ebooks or as a means of translating piracy into sales. Textbooks were provided as an example, primarily because a lot of textbooks are resold. When I do hear of people using electronic versions, it usually involves some sort of piracy. Now some of those people are compulsive pirates and who wouldn't buy a book even if they could resell it, but some of those people simply don't see the value in spending upwards of a hundred dollars on a book that they will use for one semester and cannot resell. Worse yet, some of those electronic textbooks expired after a certain duration.

It is also worth considering that legally reselling ebooks that contain DRM, in many markets, will require some sort of mediator in the transaction. It wouldn't surprise me if the publisher received royalties from this reseller, if the resale royalties didn't go towards authors (at least until contracts are renegotiated), and the publishers maintained some sort of control on pricing in the process. All of that would benefit the publisher.

On top of all of that, publishers may be forced to accept resale in the long run. Some countries have strong consumer protection legislation and will increasingly see the prohibition on resale as an attack on consumer rights. That is especially true as more and more physical goods are being replaced by digital counterparts.

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by BWinmill

On top of all of that, publishers may be forced to accept resale in the long run. Some countries have strong consumer protection legislation and will increasingly see the prohibition on resale as an attack on consumer rights. That is especially true as more and more physical goods are being replaced by digital counterparts.

Now this I can see as a possibility.

[Fbone]

I can see enterprising people making a lot of money on the resale. Moreso than even the publisher and author.

Buy them when offered for free and resell at 99 cents.
Buy daily deals at $0.99 - $2.99 and resell the next day for a dollar more.

Actually, they potentially can generate revenues into the millions each week.

[murg]

Originally Posted by Fbone

I can see enterprising people making a lot of money on the resale. Moreso than even the publisher and author.

Buy them when offered for free and resell at 99 cents.
Buy daily deals at $0.99 - $2.99 and resell the next day for a dollar more.

Actually, they potentially can generate revenues into the millions each week.

Even easier: do the used bookstore thing.

Set up a website, buy the used ebooks for 25% of list price. Sell the used eBooks for 50% of list price.

After all, in order to sell used eBooks, you have to have discoverability. Which means that someone has to broker the exchange.

[doubleshuffle]

Originally Posted by disconnected

http://goodereader.com/blog/e-book-n...-ebooks-viable

Is there also a trustworthy source for this story?


EDIT: Answering my own question: Yes, there is. Nate ran it two weeks ago. And it sounds a lot less sensationalist in Nate's version. Two weeks must be about the average time it takes Kozlowski to rip off, tweedle-dumb down and hype up a story, right?

[Barty]

Bookcoin? Why not?

[FizzyWater]

I've always felt that I'd be willing to pay a small surcharge on used books that could be split between the publisher and author. I suspect that would be a nightmare for print bookstores, but if arranged carefully, I think it could be built into any kind of used ebook plan that rolled out.

For print books, I always heard that authors made some very small amount per print book - like 6 cents! So charge 50 cents and let the author and publisher split it.

I don't know what would be fair for ebooks though. It's not like there's potential damage, as with print books. Unless they build in a limit of reselling options, then you could consider it the same kind of "deteriorating" benefits with each resale.

I was a poor student once, and I started out at crappy wages. Used books were the only way I could feed my reading addiction. As I got older and made more money, I could afford to buy them new, although sometimes I'd still buy old, just for the fun of finding new treasures at the used book stores.

I would like to think we could find a way to continue the tradition, if you want to think of it that way, of having used ebooks for those who for whatever reason want/need the lower prices.

[disconnected]

Originally Posted by doubleshuffle

Is there also a trustworthy source for this story?


EDIT: Answering my own question: Yes, there is. Nate ran it two weeks ago. And it sounds a lot less sensationalist in Nate's version. Two weeks must be about the average time it takes Kozlowski to rip off, tweedle-dumb down and hype up a story, right?

I don't know about less sensational. The very idea of new DRM is bad enough. That it's being developed by Sony, of Sony rootkit fame, gives me chills.

Seriously, I can't even imagine the level of data collection and control that would be needed to even begin a system of tracking ebook resales.

[cromag]

Just judging from the reality of the used "paper-based book" market, I don't think this will go anywhere. When people find out how little their "used" ebook is worth, I suspect they'll decide it's not worth even pursuing.

[rkomar]

Originally Posted by cromag

Just judging from the reality of the used "paper-based book" market, I don't think this will go anywhere. When people find out how little their "used" ebook is worth, I suspect they'll decide it's not worth even pursuing.

Used paper books aren't worth much either, yet people still bring them in. Even worse, you have to carry the paper books to various stores and have them mostly rejected. It would be a lot more convenient with ebooks, both for offering for sale and for finding used ones.

[darryl]

Yet more DRM. Wonderful!

More seriously, this is trying to apply print book principles to EBooks. An ebook is a computer file, and it is essentially meaningless to talk about it being used.

Essentially, we are dealing with rights here. What is basically being proposed is the ability to "sell" an ebook in competition with retailers, publishers etc. But unlike paper books, the "used" ebook is identical in quality to the "original" ebook. And, unlike a print book, can go on changing hands ad infinitum without ever deteriorating to a point that it cannot be on-soid. Why on earth would anyone buy a "new" ebook in preference to a "used" one at a discount.

The recent poll on ebook rights found that 19 people out of 108 (17.59%) regarded re-selling as important. I personally do not, and I do not think it is reasonable to expect this right. Especting such a right to re-sell is similar to publishers setting EBook prices by reference to Print Book prices. An ebook is not a print book, and as a general rule should cost much less. The lack of a used book market is just one of the good reasons why.

Let's not pretend that ebooks and print books are the same.

[murg]

What's going to kill this is the legal aspect. No, not DRM, false advertising.

Let's say a publisher signs up with Sony. Advertises that the eBook will be sellable. So you buy it.

A few years down the road, Sony decides that they aren't making any money in the DRM business and shuts down. The publishers are now being sued because their customers can no longer sell their books.

As a side note, the publishers aren't the ones that Sony has to convince to implement their DRM scheme, Sony has to get the device and app manufacturers to implement the DRM scheme.

[Froide]

Originally Posted by Fbone

I can see enterprising people making a lot of money on the resale. Moreso than even the publisher and author.

Buy them when offered for free and resell at 99 cents.
Buy daily deals at $0.99 - $2.99 and resell the next day for a dollar more.

Actually, they potentially can generate revenues into the millions each week.

This. Plus, the resale of textbooks. Of course, publishers, booksellers, and authors who sell directly to consumers or who distribute review copies might figure out a means to impose some sort of not-for-resale DRM on books "bought" for $0.00. (And consumers would figure out a way to strip said DRM.)