11-29-2007, 08:47 PM | #1 |
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Some Observations After a Year's Use
1. I currently have 35 books on my Reader.
2. Everthing on my Reader I also own in paper. 3. The only books I bought from the Connect Store were with the $50 credit that came with the Reader. I love my Reader. I use it daily. In that respect, Sony has a success. But if the goal was to get me to buy my books from them, it was a complete failure. So if I like the thing so much, why am I still buying p-books? DRM. As the owner of a computer software company, I understand and respect the need to protect intellectual property. The problem is that the hardware manufacturers use this as an excuse to demand a share in the profits on the sale of the content. Why can't I: 1. Go to a publisher's website, and purchase an e-book formatted to run on the hardware of my choice. 2. Exchange that book for one formatted for different hardware at any time. 3. Buy, sell, or trade my rights to this book with someone else. When they let me do this, I'll stop buying p-books. |
11-29-2007, 09:22 PM | #2 |
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Or you could buy the MS Reader version of the books you want, strip the DRM (as long as you're comfortable with that) & run them through lit2lrf using libprs500. Then you'd have a copy that works on your Sony. If you switch to Mobi just open the opf file created by ConvertLit, when it makes the book into HTML, in MobiPocket creator & turn the book into a Mobi file. That's what many folks do bypassing DRM altogether.
It would be nice if this could be done, & maybe someday it will be, but right now most of the publishers are so wishy washy on ebooks it won't happen soon. Last edited by AnemicOak; 11-29-2007 at 09:36 PM. |
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11-29-2007, 09:29 PM | #3 |
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Although at some point I'll lose my attachment to having a pBook as a "trophy" of my reading history I agree as well.
Maybe pBooks could have a redeemable token in the front cover that entitles you to a digital copy for convenience. |
11-29-2007, 09:43 PM | #4 | |
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My frustration stems from the fact that the publishers could have given us a DRM solution that granted all the rights we currently enjoy with a p-book and still protected their copyright, but they chose not to. |
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11-30-2007, 01:56 AM | #5 |
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I'm in a similar situation to ChrisI -- bought the Reader last Dec. Bought my $50 in books from Sony and not once since. I've downloaded and converted lots of books from Baen and other free sources (e.g. Gutenberg). I've also be re-reading a lot of series from start to end and have acquired from shadier sources e-copies of physical books I own.
I also use my Garmin iQue to do a lot of reading (backlist LCD is good for low light situations) and have bought a number of books from eReader.com -- mostly when they are having a special or a deal on a "bundle" My philosophy for physical books was: there are some authors I really enjoy and will re-read the books many times over the years. Those I would buy in hardback. Everything else was paperback (or from the local library). The Kindle prices are close enough to paperback that I'm toying with switching -- that $10 is a magic number for me What I really want is an e-library -- I would pay a reasonable subscription ($10/mo?) and could download a fixed number of books (3 or 4) that would expire after a month. When I deleted one from my reader I could download another. Sort of the Netflix model. If Amazon went that way with the Kindle I'd buy it in a second. Thinking about it, I guess I feel I don't "own" e-books, I'm just borrowing them, so I'm not willing to pay anything near the list price of the physical book. And I think that is maybe the big problem with ereaders as a class reaching a wider audience. I don't mind hearing a CD again I just listened to last month, but there aren't too many books I want to re-read every month. Sony is treating books like music -- so is Amazon, but I have higher hopes that they will "see the light" |
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11-30-2007, 02:04 AM | #6 |
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I hope the subscription idea doesn't take off, or if it does then offer reasonably priced alternatives for SLOW readers like me who wouldn't get value from limited reading time for material.
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11-30-2007, 02:16 AM | #7 |
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ITunes and other such companies are starting to sell music w/o DRM and maybe one day it'll happen with ebooks. But I think it's a bit harder for companies to be willing to remove DRM for ebooks than they are for music.
DRM'ed music files hurt sales. For those who don't want to purchase a song because it's DRM'ed can easily find the song that is compatible with their player (since most support mp3 format) w/o DRM illegally. However, it is pretty hard to find a copy of an ebook that isn't DRM'ed. Most people will either end up accepting the DRM and buy the ebook or end up buying the paper book instead. There isn't likely to be a loss of sales to drive the publishers from removing DRM like what I believe is happening in the music industry. But I do hope that one day ebooks will have a single format and DRM's aren't so restrictive. I know.... just dreaming=) |
11-30-2007, 03:07 AM | #8 |
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Ebooks will hopefully learn from the music world!
I will not spend $10 to buy a book I already own, I would however pay a nominal fee of say $2 to do this and i would pay $10 for an Ebook I dont own, For me this process would work by me going into a special counter at a borders etc and then be able to run my physically owned books through a barcode reade, this would then add them to my E-book account so I could pay the $2 and DL my ebook version. |
11-30-2007, 03:53 AM | #9 | |
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11-30-2007, 07:20 AM | #10 |
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The digital media costs much less than the paperback though Harry! if they charged me $2 on top of the production etc costs for the paper back then yes that would be great! they would actually make more money from me as at the moment i cant justify buying a Pback if I already have the Hardcover...
And its not that Im not 'Expecting' that im hoping that will be the case as that way it would direct me to put $2 into the ebook industry rather than pushing me to download on line. Its the same with Music and books and comics and films etc The production costs stay the same but the retail,packaging distribution etc are almost nonexistant with digital media. I haver a finite amount of money to spend each month, lets say $50 I would love to pay $5 a film and download 4 to watch Buy 4 ebooks for $5 and buy 2 albums for $5. I would be happy and the industries would have my money. Now I am due to the easy availability of digital media for free, and the high cost and DRM of current legal digital media that in many cases i already own I am tempted to go the 'free' route. i dont think this is right or good for the industry but im also stuck because i physically cant afford to rebuy things I already own the right to view/read again in a different format. So if the industry changed I think Piracy would drop of(to an extent) and they would make as much or more in the future. |
11-30-2007, 10:42 AM | #11 | |
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Like the music industry, there are so many players that have investors and stock holders dependent upon old business models that I suspect it will take awhile for the consumer to get this. If it was just one company it could happen quickly, but as we all know it's an industry and an industry takes a while to change.... Last edited by jeffoest; 11-30-2007 at 01:01 PM. |
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11-30-2007, 11:34 AM | #12 |
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I think the Kindle is poised to go exactly that way, a subscription model. At that point I'll have to decide if book "ownership" is important to me. If I have an e-library pass do I need to keep the books forever? I'm thinking I can change my mindset.
Meanwhile I'm on the same page as AnemicOak, buy the books in DRM-strippable format. That satisfies the common man's ethics (and mine) while preserving my purchase beyond whatever box I use to read it today. |
11-30-2007, 12:11 PM | #13 | |
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12-01-2007, 05:08 AM | #14 | |
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There have even been attempts to fight the concept of public libraries, which didn't get very far either. But in the electronic field, with the strength of the Sonny Bono Act which makes it illegal to circumvent Digital Rights Management even for content which a person actually has legally purchased (remember, you're only buying a license to use that content, not actually buying the content itself), publishers have a new ability to shut down the second-hand market where they make no money at all. There's no incentive for the publishers to do anything other than what they're doing. In the electronic media field they're the only game in town, and if you want to read a specific author's works in digital format you are at the mercy of however tight or loose the controls are that they wish to use. Remember that all the rights we now have in paper books are only our rights because of court rulings -- they are not part of the copyright law (at least in the United States). Court rulings change over the years so the rights we currently enjoy may be eroded in newer court rulings. |
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12-01-2007, 11:27 AM | #15 | |
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I think it will happen eventually... but not real soon... |
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