Re: "The Elusive E-book"

On Mon, May 12, 2008 at 7:23 PM, Mary E Tyler <[email protected]> wrote:

> Primary difference: most "free" music on Limewire and Kazaa and the
> like is illegal and there is a small but non-zero risk of getting
> caught and sued.

And you think that stopped people? If it had, then the RIAA wouldn't
have thought of it as that much of a problem. If you want to do an
apples and oranges thing, try the fact that there's a lot less
difference between the quality of mp3 music and CD music than there is
between ebooks and books. :)

Anyway, I think "Will free ebooks condition people to expect all
ebooks should be free when ebooks are the dominant form of publishing"
is the wrong question. Eric Flint makes a very good case in the
columns I linked in an earlier message (and link again, below) that
ebooks are probably *never* going to be the dominant form of
publishing. Even when there's a better/cheaper reader available,
there's never going to be a reason for paper books to go away. Ebooks
will not bring on the "paperless library" any more than word
processors have brought on the "paperless office."

http://www.baens-universe.com/articles/Paper_books_are_not_going_to_be_joining_the_dodo_a
http://www.baens-universe.com/articles/A_Matter_of_Symbiosis
http://www.baens-universe.com/articles/The_Nature_of_Transitions

I think a better question would be what ebook-only vendors will do
when it becomes apparent that ebooks and paper books will always
co-exist.

-- 
Chris Meadows aka | WWW: http://www.terrania.us | Somebody help,
Robotech_Master | ICQ: 5477383 AIM: RoboMastr | I'm trapped in
[email protected] | Skype, Gizmo: Robotech_Master | a sig file!
[email protected] | Yahoo: robotech_master_2000 |

------------------------------------

------------------------------------------------------
Post a message:   ebook-community [[at]] *
Unsubscribe:      ebook-community-unsubscribe [[at]] *
Switch to digest: ebook-community-digest [[at]] *
Switch to normal: ebook-community-normal [[at]] *
Put mail on hold: ebook-community-nomail [[at]] *
Administrator:    ebook-community-owner [[at]] *

(* == yahoogroups.com)
-------------------------------------------------------Yahoo! Groups Links

<*> To visit your group on the web, go to:
    http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ebook-community/

<*> Your email settings:
    Individual Email | Traditional

<*> To change settings online go to:
    http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ebook-community/join
    (Yahoo! ID required)

<*> To change settings via email:
    mailto:[email protected] 
    mailto:ebook-community-fullfeatured-hHKSG33TihhbjbujkaE4pw@public.gmane.org

<*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
    ebook-community-unsubscribe-hHKSG33TihhbjbujkaE4pw@public.gmane.org

<*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to:
    http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/