Slightly off topic - Ebooks

[richard.pieri-Re5JQEeQqe8AvxtiuMwx3w at public.gmane.org (Richard Pieri)]

On Feb 7, 2010, at 12:08 AM, Edward Ned Harvey wrote:
> 
> This is really the comment I'm curious about.  Why do you say "don't buy drm
> books?"  What do you think will change in the next year, and what bad thing
> do you think will happen, if you buy drm'd books within the next year?

I've personally experienced publishers not updating their readers to contemporary devices and rendering their books unreadable.  I've personally experienced device vendors going out of business and rendering unreadable books that are locked to those devices.  I was not affected by last year's Kindle fiasco, in which books purchased in good faith were "unsold" by Amazon without warning, but I know a few who were.  If you buy encumbered media then you will find them unusable some time in the future.

> What, precisely, do you think?
> Do you think one day, all materials will be available for free?  Publishers
> will simply give up on DRM?

Unencumbered does not mean free.

I see two possibilities for Big Content in the coming decade.  One the one hand, the Wall Street Journal has started to figure out how to operate in the 21st Century, not by selling the news but by selling useful analysis of that news.  When you sign up for the WSJ's web site you aren't buying the Journal; you're subscribing to the added value that the Journal brings.  And you know what?  I think that's -awesome- (if only Rupert Murdoch would apply that to the -rest- of his holdings...).

On the other hand, the New York Times is planning to put everything behind a paywall, with claims that is how the iTunes Music Store works.  Total lockout unless you pay for the subscription.  Wrong answer.  That won't encourage new subscribers to sign up; it'll just drive them to the competition that offers a better service.

And that's the key: service.  If you can provide your customers with a superior service than your competition then you win.  That is the iTMS and WSJ business model.  They don't necessarily provide a superior product; they provide a superior service.

At least that's my opinion.  That and five bucks will get you a small coffee at Starbucks.

--Rich P.