Re: eBooks are not worth the paper they aren't printed on

[Dave Farber <dave () farber net>]

Begin forwarded message:

> From: Ron Fitzherbert <ron () baaoinkmoo com>
> Date: May 2, 2010 7:47:49 PM EDT
> To: dave () farber net
> Subject: Re: [IP] Re:    eBooks are not worth the paper they aren't  
> printed on

> The model may be broken, however, it seems that a lot of people are  
> willing to pay into the current pricing model.  As long as people  
> are willing to pay, what incentives do the publishers have to change?
>
> Ron
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: David Farber
> To: ip
> Sent: Sunday, May 02, 2010 4:22 PM
> Subject: [IP] Re: eBooks are not worth the paper they aren't printed  
> on
>
>
>
> Begin forwarded message:
>
> From: Wulf%20Losee <qx49 () comcast net>
> Date: May 1, 2010 11:36:43 PM EDT
> To: dave () farber net, Bob19-0501 () bobf frankston com
> Subject: Re: [IP] eBooks are not worth the paper they aren't printed  
> on
>
> There's a common misconception that an eBook should be much cheaper  
> than a bound paper book, because publishers could avoid the overhead  
> of printing and shipping. It    turns out that the cost of printing  
> and shipping paper books is actually a small part of their overall  
> cost. Charlie Stross over at www.accelerando.org (antipope.org) has  
> done an excellent series that describes how the publishing industry  
> works (at least from his perspective as a Science Fiction author).
>
> I hope Dave forwards this to IP, because the blog post below and the  
> rest of his postings on the publishing industry are a fascinating  
> read.
>
> http://www.antipope.org/charlie/blog-static/2010/02/cmap-2-how-books-are-made.html
>
> cheers!
> --Wulf
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "David Farber" <dave () farber net>
> To: "ip" <ip () v2 listbox com>
> Sent: Saturday, May 1, 2010 7:58:38 AM GMT -08:00 US/Canada Pacific
> Subject: [IP] eBooks are not worth the paper they aren't printed on
>
>
>
> Begin forwarded message:
>
> From: "Bob Frankston" <Bob19-0501 () bobf frankston com>
> Date: May 1, 2010 9:43:58 AM EDT
> To: <nnsquad () nnsquad org>, <dave () farber net>
> Cc: <danb () bricklin com>
> Subject: eBooks are not worth the paper they aren't printed on
>
> The iPad once again has brought the issue of eBooks to the fore.
>
> I’ve been following the pricing battle. The idea of eBooks is wonder 
> ful but DRM, Digital Rights Management, makes it difficult to preten 
> d that the DRMed eBooks are just like their printed cousins. The att 
> empt to price those eBooks at the    same price as printed books is  
> fundamentally wrong. These eBooks are typically worth substantially  
> less than the printed books because DRM is far more onerous than the 
>  limitations imposed by paper as a token of ownership.
>
> I can only view the eBooks on a limited number of devices. I can try  
> to game the system by treating my family as a group but that has its  
> own problems. No sharing, trading, and with most readers I can’t eve 
> n copy the text to a clipboard.
>
> If we had rational pricing then DRM should knock most of the value  
> off the book. Of course things are more complicated because some  
> books work as transient “reads” and should be priced as a read.  
> Others are more archival and lose value if they can’t be shared. And 
>  some indeed work as personal active documents whose value on a devi 
> ce is more than it would be in a printed form.
>
> Rather than trying to carry an old business model forward we need to  
> recognize that an eBook is a new creature and that DRM should one of  
> the factors in determining, limiting, the price.
>
> Once we get past the attempt to bring the old model forward we can  
> create a variety of new “books”. Some would be subscriptions with  
> updates. Others would be more like apps and some would become family 
>  heirlooms.
>
> Archives        
>
> Archives        



-------------------------------------------
Archives: https://www.listbox.com/member/archive/247/=now
RSS Feed: https://www.listbox.com/member/archive/rss/247/
Powered by Listbox: http://www.listbox.com