Why do press folks hate Sony?

[NatCh]

I think I understand Slayda's motivation, share it in fact. You want to have the paper books as kind of a collection, like baseball cards or stamps, 'book' people love books. That's it for me, anyway.

[TadW]

Originally Posted by Cthulhu

Not trying to be a jerk, just wondering at motivation.

One motivation: buy the hardcover book, then use a pirated copy of the e-book, if DRM or a publisher's neglectance to support e-books forces you to.

[airlik]

Originally Posted by TadW

One motivation: buy the hardcover book, then use a pirated copy of the e-book, if DRM or a publisher's neglectance to support e-books forces you to.

[slayda]

Originally Posted by Cthulhu

Slayda: Your post begs the question, Why have the physical copy if you do not intend to read it?

It seems a bit silly to me, and I wonder why you would purchase the same book twice, especially one you'll never use.

Not trying to be a jerk, just wondering at motivation.

Nathan said it for me. I really prefer to read the ebook, but I categorize books into 1) unreadable, 2) barely readable, 3) readable and 4) re-readable. Some authors go automatically into category 4 (although I do remove a select few from that group). Weber & Heinlein are 99% in category 4.

When a book is re-readable, I want a hard copy. It's harder to lose than an ebook copy which can be lost in many ways - system crash, my own hastyness & carelessness, etc. So for re-readable books I want a hard copy even if I never open it but read the ebook version. Also sometimes you want to have something you can hold in your hands so you KNOW you own it.

Actually those books in categories 1 & 2 are some I wish I could get my money back from.

Keep in mind that I'm in the older generation so it's hard to lose old habits but ebook readers are so much easier to hold. So call me a dichotomy.

[rmeister0]

Originally Posted by slayda

When a book is re-readable, I want a hard copy. It's harder to lose than an ebook copy which can be lost in many ways - system crash, my own hastyness & carelessness, etc. So for re-readable books I want a hard copy even if I never open it but read the ebook version. Also sometimes you want to have something you can hold in your hands so you KNOW you own it.

I do the same thing; that way I don't have to worry about the DRM vendor going out of business (Gemstar), or my reader breaking and they don't make them anymore (soon to be Gemstar, once the supply of eb-1150s runs out), or the battery dies and nobody makes replacements anymore, or whatever.

Sometimes I also enjoy the physical artifact of a well made book. There is something to be said for a quality printing and binding job, even if they are getting harder to find it seems.

[rmeister0]

Originally Posted by slayda

...I went on line to buy the ebook version so I wouldn't have to hold that "Heavy" hard back book while I read.

Gadzooks, but I wish the Harry Potter books, Michael Moorcock's Eternal Champion books, and Lord of the Rings would come out electronically already for precisely the same reason. Heck, that finally got me to break down and buy A Game of Thrones.

[Sam]

I'm a book lover- I have an extensive library at home. I intend to keep this habit, buying hardcovers of the good books I come across. However, I travel a lot and the Sony Reader is the best thing since sliced bread for the traveling reader. Even with the Connect Software/bookstore (clunky RSS feeds the complaint of the day for me) and some other gripes (like 60 MB not enough!), I think it'll be the best thing for the next two years.

If I have to search for non-DRM products as a way of finding content, so be it. If Harry Potter doesn't come out soon, that'll be one of the first!

[Cthulhu]

I guess I'm a different kind of fish.

I would love to be able to reclaim the real estate lost to my bookshelf--mainly because e-texts *do* exist.

I doubt that I will ever part with a few books, like my copy of _Desolation Angels_ which was the last book I read at University and turned into a yearbook (by having people write in it), but most I would not mind losing. I no longer have anyone to impress with my library (like I did in college), and I have a very small house. There is something to be said for physicality, for texture and the random association of looking over a bookshelf crammed with texts, but I know that I could live without it.

[heavyB]

I'm going to be honest here: I bought my Sony Reader because of the non-DRM content I have available to me. The Sony Connect store, to me, is a novelty for books that are not yet available in the 'open market'. I'd sooner buy the p-book, read it, then chop it up and scan it in. But now that I have a my Reader, I'll skip the "Read" part until after I chop it and scan it.

I also have no problem downloading a copy of something I already own. I appreciate that someone else went through the trouble to save me the time of scanning it in. I want my library of p-books digital, for a billion reasons. main reason: Because I can. What an amazing thing to have and hold the actual text of a great work. I can format it as I like, I can read it on my laptop, PDA or now, Sony Reader. Hell, I can make a poster of it if I want. [Link to Cory Doctorow's "Down and out in the magic kingdom" as a poster PDF (624k)]

That book is mine. I paid for it. If I were only leasing or renting it, I should not pay near p-book prices. Despite what Sony says, because I can't do with their books as I like, it's a lease, no matter how long term. If I want to borrow a book, I'll go to the library, not sony.

Sony is not the last e-ink/holopaper/retinalHack device I'll buy in my lifetime, I'm quite sure of that. I'll be damned if my books won't be available for that future.

I know there's no shortage of other folks here that are like me, maybe even those who don't own the works they download. That's their business. There's no doubt I've circumvented some law or another by scanning my book or downloading one that I own. I don't care.

iTunes allows the ability to burn a CD and archive your purchased music. Do you really think the kiddies out there aren't ripping and sharing those burns? Of course they are, but why do you think iTunes allows it? Because trusting the consumer returns more dividends than not. I'll buy from iTunes solely for this reason, I will not buy from Sony Connect.

Sony met us half way by allowing the Sony Reader to read text/RTF/PDFs. Sony: meet us the other half and give me fair open access to the content I've purchased and I'll be part of Sony's dream of being the iTunes of the book world, until then, my own personal digital collection grows the hard way and they haven't seen a dime.

[NatCh]

Unfortunately, HeavyB, it's not just Sony in that equation. They have to appease the publishers too, or the sources of the texts dry up. Unlike the Recording industry, the pubs haven't had the sort of attitude realignment that has encouraged the music folks to rethink things, so they insist on things like DRM.

Personally, I think we'll get there, it may take a while, but I think we'll make it.

[heavyB]

Originally Posted by NatCh

Unfortunately, HeavyB, it's not just Sony in that equation. They have to appease the publishers too, or the sources of the texts dry up. Unlike the Recording industry, the pubs haven't had the sort of attitude realignment that has encouraged the music folks to rethink things, so they insist on things like DRM.

Personally, I think we'll get there, it may take a while, but I think we'll make it.

I appologize for soapboxing and sounding bitter. I guess I get so steamed that a consumer would consider buying a book more than once so they can read it in different formats/media. It just smacks of greed.

Until the bulk of Publishers/Studios/etc see piracy as a business model to compete against as opposed to enforcing punitive schemes against the consumer, we'll continue to have beautiful technology like the Reader sullied by DRM that only hurts the consumer and benefits a few.

Thanks for being so grounded NatCh I know I'm being just as greedy for wanting it perfect now...

[tcv]

Originally Posted by heavyB

I'd sooner buy the p-book, read it, then chop it up and scan it in. But now that I have a my Reader, I'll skip the "Read" part until after I chop it and scan it.

I'm curious about this. Is this not a really long and arduous task? I can't imagine taking any book of any appreciable length, chopping it up and scanning it. Doesn't this take you hours? Days? Is the benefit worth that much time?

I'm probably far off there. I mean, people spend days ripping DVDs and putting them on their iPod. But what's the reason? Watch the DVD! It seems such a large road to go down and the typical person has so much to do already. Wow!

Maybe I don't understand because I'm not embracing the complexity?

[NatCh]

I wouldn't call you "greedy," HeavyB, "impatient" maybe.

You don't sound particularly bitter to me, and you'll find plenty of people 'round here that will gleefully join you in decaring the evils of DRM -- nobody really likes it, I don't, certainly, but I'm in the 'grumble and bear it' camp for the moment.

As far as buying a book in multiple formats ... as long as it's my choice to do so, then I don't object. I know there are folks who buy the hardback, and then later buy the paperback to re-read so they can keep the HB in the best possible condition. I don't do that, but more power to 'em.

And if the price is low enough, then I'll re-buy things for my convenience too. For instance, I'd gleefully re-pay for the Harry Potter books for my Reader just so they'd be 9 oz. instead of 3 lbs.

I guess, if a book is good enough for me to want to read it that much, then I'll probably wear out my paper copies eventually anyway, so re-buying it is inevitable.

I agree, it would be nice if it were otherwise, and I think it may be eventually, but for now ....

Thanks for your kind words, BTW, I'm just trying to see it from both sides. Keeps my blood pressure down you know.

[NatCh]

Originally Posted by tcv

I'm curious about this. Is this not a really long and arduous task? I can't imagine taking any book of any appreciable length, chopping it up and scanning it. Doesn't this take you hours? Days? Is the benefit worth that much time?

From comments others have made, I gather that if you have an autofeeding scanner, then de-binding a book, scanning and OCRing it isn't terribly time consuming.

As for why ... aside from the convenience, there's a lot of "because I can" in there, I expect.

[heavyB]

Originally Posted by NatCh

From comments others have made, I gather that if you have an autofeeding scanner, then de-binding a book, scanning and OCRing it isn't terribly time consuming.

As for why ... aside from the convenience, there's a lot of "because I can" in there, I expect.

Exactly right on both counts... The office copier/scanner is awfully fast and does full duplex. Pipe that into FineReader and away it goes. That app is so slick, you'd be amazed how few errors it produces from a clean book.

It's a powerful feeling to release a work from the binds of it's mortal coil.

Everyone needs a hobby I suppose.