Lendle: Amazon has revoked Lendle's API access

[BearMountainBooks]

Originally Posted by ApK

I think it works best when it's the authors choice. Copyright laws protect that choice. People can make that choice now.
Some people seem to forget that it is copyright protection that makes things like Creative Commons and GPL possible. It is the protection of copyright laws that give you the ability to say "You can use my work for free and and share it BUT YOU MAY NOT SELL IT FOR MONEY!"
These 'New Society' types seem to be fine using the existing protections for their own choices, but they seem to want to take choice away from anyone who disagrees.

That being said, I'd like to see copyright law reform. The main purpose is supposed to be public interest: Protect the creators right to control and profit from their work for some time, so they can create good work that will eventually be part of the public domain.
It wasn't supposed to be a guarantee of profits for Disney to the end of time.

ApK

In the larger scheme of things, Doctorow really isn't offering a product for free. He is offering a carrot. It looks free. It tastes free. But the idea is that if you like carrots, you then pay for the next one. These things appear free, but they are really extended samples.

Just my two cents. Put out here ... for free.

[kennyc]

Originally Posted by BearMountainBooks

In the larger scheme of things, Doctorow really isn't offering a product for free. He is offering a carrot. It looks free. It tastes free. But the idea is that if you like carrots, you then pay for the next one. These things appear free, but they are really extended samples.

Just my two cents. Put out here ... for free.

Yes, he talks out both sides of his mouth. Gives some things away and sells others. Not that there is anything wrong with that.

[Andrew H.]

Originally Posted by kennyc

Yes, he talks out both sides of his mouth. Gives some things away and sells others. Not that there is anything wrong with that.

Cory Doctorow is the owner and a frequent contributor to BoingBoing, which is one of the most popular blogs on the internet. Consequently, it's much easier for him to publicize his books (free or otherwise) than for almost anyone else (and he is, to my mind, quite aggressive about doing so). While there is absolutely nothing wrong with that, I think it's a mistake to think that what might work for Cory is generalizable to people who don't own a blog regularly read by millions of people.

[bhartman36]

Originally Posted by BearMountainBooks

The experiment may be flawed, but it proved (to me at least) that the best musician in the world could not make a living attempting "free." The reason doesn't matter, but the results do. He could try playing at different times of the day, he could play on the street in different areas. End result, long term would still be that he'd earn a pittance.

The experiment wasn't designed to evaluate that question. If you wanted to maximize how many people paid, you would pick a relaxed situation, with good acoustics, etc., and let people know what they were getting.

[kennyc]

Originally Posted by Andrew H.

Cory Doctorow is the owner and a frequent contributor to BoingBoing, which is one of the most popular blogs on the internet. Consequently, it's much easier for him to publicize his books (free or otherwise) than for almost anyone else (and he is, to my mind, quite aggressive about doing so). While there is absolutely nothing wrong with that, I think it's a mistake to think that what might work for Cory is generalizable to people who don't own a blog regularly read by millions of people.

Exactly!

[Shaggy]

Originally Posted by bhartman36

The experiment wasn't designed to evaluate that question. If you wanted to maximize how many people paid, you would pick a relaxed situation, with good acoustics, etc., and let people know what they were getting.

Agreed. This experiment had nothing to do with whether or not he would get paid, or whether people appreciated "free". Those weren't the stated goals.

Besides, he got paid $43/hour during this experiment. That's more than most people make. Sounds like he earned quite a bit of money performing his art "for free".