02-10-2009, 05:13 PM | #1 | ||
Uebermensch
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Could lack of piracy be the e-book's demise?
What sounds like some sort of paradox is a challenging editorial by Bobbie Johnson on the Guardian's Tech blog. Bobbie believes that the Kindle will never be some kind of iPod of books, because:
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And since we're already talking about the Guardian, check out this earlier article in which they gave extra mentioning to the Kindle 2 image leak. |
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02-10-2009, 05:45 PM | #2 |
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what?
Last edited by Blackguard; 02-22-2010 at 08:51 PM. |
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02-10-2009, 06:03 PM | #3 |
Geographically Restricted
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Just a quick look around will indicate there are literally thousands of eBooks (non fiction and fiction) available online via bittorrent or Rapidshare.
Last edited by sabredog; 02-10-2009 at 06:17 PM. |
02-10-2009, 06:30 PM | #4 |
Grand Sorcerer
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Maybe (and this is just a thought) people actually like their authors and want to see them get paid. Musicians who are popular are obscenely wealthy so no one pities them. Not a lot of authors actually make that much money. I would never pirate books for that reason.
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02-10-2009, 06:44 PM | #5 |
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That is particularly true.
Take Michael McCollum for example. He has self published via his website for many years now after leaving his mainstream publisher due to dissatisfaction with the publishing industry as a whole. He is not a prolific or as popular an SF author such as David Weber or John Ringo and writes in his spare time. His published works are inexpensive and multiformat. I would hate to see authors such as him hurt by piracy. |
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02-10-2009, 06:44 PM | #6 | |
zeldinha zippy zeldissima
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i think that ebook sharing is probably relatively low-profile for the moment, partly because it's a different demographic that is interested, but i wonder if there won't be some sort of oroubos-style phenomenon wherein the increased popularity and awareness of liseuses will lead to more ebook sharing which will in turn lead to more interest in ebooks in general and potentially more sales of liseuses, which will lead to more interest in ebooks and potentially more sharing... it would be quite ironic if the deciding factor to reach the tipping point were precisely the phenomenon which the industries claim to be so frightened of, but it does seem to be a compelling argument... i'm curious about just how widespread the phenomenon of "pirated" ebooks is though. outside of the obvious sources i don't know where they are hiding, but people seem to think they are everywhere... maybe i should do some research. in the name of science, obviously. |
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02-10-2009, 08:34 PM | #7 | |
Wizard
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but since its IRC, and not bitorrent for example, its not wide spread, ED2k is a souce but IRC is where the community is. Piracy pushes the world forward, its already forced most TV networks to put their shows online for free streaming. Movies are still way behind in catching up to piracy. and Ebooks just dont have the exposure. Last edited by Andybaby; 02-10-2009 at 08:37 PM. |
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02-10-2009, 08:53 PM | #8 |
Wizard
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I'm on a livejournal community that shares ebooks and while I don't download all of them (because seriously who has the time?) I'm exposed a much wider variety of books than I am visiting my local library. Though if I'm looking for something specific I'll go to to IRC but for testing out new authors LJ is where I go.
Also, I really do not like to buy DRM ebooks at all. I never like the formatting and with LRX there is nothing I can do to make my ebook look better and Mobi..well it's still work and technically illegal to crack the DRM there as well. Also, I can't for the life of me find an affordable copy of any of Storm Constantine's ebooks...so just saying ebook stores have their work cut out for them to get someone like me to spend money there. Baen is the only ebook store I visit and spend money at regularly. |
02-10-2009, 09:22 PM | #9 |
Sir Penguin of Edinburgh
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There are several important differences between ebook and music piracy.
How many people read? How many people listen to music? I know a handful of people who read regularly. I know several dozen who have an iPod. How quickly is a song consumed versus a book? Music is consumed in minutes; a book might take weeks. Because of the time difference, the market for music sold (and pirated) is significantly larger than that of the book market. Here is my point: Ebook piracy could be as rampant as music piracy. But in absolute numbers it will appear to be tiny when compared to music piracy. |
02-10-2009, 09:40 PM | #10 |
Grand Sorcerer
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Stupid question. What is IRC?
Overview opinion on ebook piracy vs. music piracy. A book take much longer to enjoy than a piece of music. So downloading less books equals the same enjoyment of lots of music. |
02-10-2009, 09:44 PM | #11 |
Wizard
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data Piracy never does anything but make an industry stronger.
I cant tell you how many thousands of dollar people around me have spent when i told them about this program, or that tv show, or that Artist. now its with books too, all around me, since i started reading, every one else has picked up books too. around every pirate there are people buying stuff based on what they say. |
02-10-2009, 09:45 PM | #12 |
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what?
Last edited by Blackguard; 02-22-2010 at 08:51 PM. |
02-10-2009, 09:45 PM | #13 |
Karmaniac
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I think piracy will hardly be noticed.
eg: On bittorrent or P2P networks people generally don't download small (sub MP3 sized, or sub 2Mb)files. Also the file extension isn't really known. If the books where published in pdf or doc format they would be downloaded more than eg LRX, LRF, or PRC/inf or other ebook formats. I mean, that would be my opinion on it. then there's the fact that childeren of my age (born in the seventies and eighties) generally where found behind the television instead of behind a book. And those who went to libraries generally came out with comic books rather than regular books (that includes myself). I bet the next generation of e-ink devices will bring a much greater difference! The plastic logics reader able to display powerpoint presentations, and it's ability to show comic books in near to full comicbook paper size! Also it's better PDF support. Then there's the thought of color e-ink displays (White, Yellow, Cyan, Magenta, Black particles instead of B/W), or bringing a TFT layer over a white semi reflecting background instead of a backlit one. I think these 'gadgets' when on the market will bring a large boost in the market too! Then there's the economical crisis, which works both ways. One way, people are working harder to keep their jobs, and keep their company from going under, and the other way are the people who just lost a job, searching for a job, and in their free time start searching for entertainment if no job was found, to get back into the market as soon as things stabilize a bit. I think piracy has little to do with the ebook sales (it'll make 1, 2 or at most 5% difference I think). |
02-10-2009, 09:50 PM | #14 |
Grand Sorcerer
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Some torrent trackers have a lot of ebooks.
Well consuming one music album takes me months. And in the time it takes me to consume one album I can probably read 10-30 books. I do not think the difference is because of the time it take to consume. The difference is probably more to do with the fact that more people are interested in listening to music than reading books. |
02-10-2009, 10:13 PM | #15 | |
Connoisseur
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Generally speaking, I am much more likely to donate to open source projects and the likes than to pay for commercial software, for example. That is exactly the road that musicians, artists and authors should go. Get rid of these publishers and distributors who take such an huge cut, to the detriment of both the authors and the public. Gather into non profit cooperative societies, who would do the publishing and distribution work at cost. Imagine an Amazon.com or iTunes owed by the authors. Authors can get increased royalties and the public gets better prices, and less incentive to go the illegal route, plus the public knows that the money goes straight to the artists. |
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