Re: NY Times Ethicist Condones Ripping Off E-books

From: "Bill Janssen" 
> joseph harris <[email protected]> wrote:
<snip>
>> 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.

The worst example I saw of that was that there were no books i nthe home of one of our local directors of Education! And that was some time before the internet. But bear in mind that books were not usually visible in th e majority of homes at any time. This is why I have said that the internet has vastly increased the habit of reading.

> 
>> 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?

;-) Funnily enough I think it likely that such shops will return. But they will not be run by chains. Much of the closure over the past three years have been to do with bad business models - i.e. borrowing too much money, rather than a failure of income. Too many areas of service to people became investors milch cows, rather than capitalist model business. Repayment of loan costs sank many otherwise viable businesses.

<snip>
>> 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

We disagree about novels [i.e. print], but agree on music in general since it is a performance art, and does not rely on the publishing arm to survive. The latter created mass popularity; it is that that needs a sophisticated industry.

Joseph


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