Re: NY Times Ethicist Condones Ripping Off E-books

joseph harris <[email protected]> wrote:

> From: "Bill Janssen" 
> > joseph harris <[email protected]> wrote:
> > 
> >> And I doubt you can find much i nthe way of old recordings i nrecord
> >> shops. Revival pieces are newly minted, and the 1721 piece, if really
> >> there, will be from a recent recording. Again you can order things if
> >> they are still in stock at the publishers or distributors.
> > 
> > Oddly enough, what's happened in the US is that the record shops still
> > going are more and more those specializing in used recordings and old
> > music.  Vinyl has made a comeback.  Most of the stores that used to sell
> > new CDs are gone, clobbered by iTunes and Amazon, both of which have
> > huge catalogs with impressive "long tail" characteristics.
> > 
> > I imagine book stores will go the same way -- which random consumer of
> > trash from the likes of popular airport authors is going to pay for new
> > books when they can download a video for free from hulu.com?  Book
> > lovers will turn to specialty shops which will sell mainly used books,
> > but also smatterings of what will be the increasingly rare new print
> > book.
> > 
> > Bill
> > 
> 
> Bill,
> 
> You give some facts, but then draw conclusions those facts don't warrant.

Just speculating out loud, Joseph.  Yes, I agree that it's extrapolation
from what I see around me, and it could go differently.

> And just to add a little information, vinyl never went out of fashion
> in places like India, where it has fed a growing market. That may be
> declining now. For the US, UK and Europe it is retro, of course, but
> the revival has been interesting.

Interesting indeed!

> However, the level at which much sound, audio and visual entertainment
> has been selling suggested that area is a luxury one.

Yep, just like books, much as we hate to admit it.  I'm always shocked
when I see a survey that says how many households have no books in them
-- a huge number -- because no one who lives there needs them.

> While the Credit
> Crunch formally occurred in 2007, the effects of the cause were
> hitting the real economy at least 15 months earlier. [That is an
> argument in economics.] This has had a lot to do with the falling
> sales of music, and aspects of the 'free' argument.

Sure, but "record shops" selling just new music disappeared in the
U.S. well before the credit crunch, killed off by Amazon and/or iTunes.
I suppose the real question is, if the economy recovers, will they come
back?  Which way would you bet on that?

> The rise in 'used' signals two or three things: collectors, retro and
> shortage of money, both in the pockets of customers and available to
> business for development in the music industry. Part of what you are
> seeing is the effect of the business model you seem, with Chris, to
> praise.

Can't speak for Chris, but I'm not praising.  Just observing.

> And I wonder if the creation, development and offering of new
> music is rising or falling as a result?

Good question.  Since music is a quite different form of entertainment,
I doubt it will have the kind of precipitous die-off I would expect to
see in entertainment novels.

Bill


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