4 ms·

Actually, I don't want you to back MacMillan, I want you to back everyone else who is pushing towards an open, free format for eBooks. I think this includes App

Actually, I don't want you to back MacMillan, I want you to back everyone else who is pushing towards an open, free format for eBooks. I think this includes Apple even if they aren't selling free books today. My understanding is that Kindle books can be played everywhere, but only purchased from Amazon, because they're in the distribution business. They want to monopolize distribution and commoditize players. Apple go the other way. You can get all sorts of content for iPads, including eBooks from other sources. They want to monopolize the player market and commoditize the content. The best way to commoditize content is to make it completely open: witness their original "Rip. Mix. Burn" campaign that got them hated by the music industry, and Steve's famous call for an end to DRM. All things considered, I'd rather fight Apple over hardware than fight Amazon over DRM. JM2C.

cstross 17y ago
Actually, I'm picking a third choice: I'm pushing Macmillan for a DRM-free open format based solution. (And I'm pushing on a door that's ajar, but jammed: probably most or all of their editorial and many of their executive staff know that DRM is stupid, but changing corporate policy at a large, staid multinational headquartered overseas -- Macmillan is a subsidiary of Holtzbrinck -- is difficult and takes time.) The real solution is for the publishers to switch from wholesale (via channels like Amazon) to direct retail. The agency idea is a step along the way, but not the whole way. Some publishers already have done this: Baen's Webscription web storefront, shared by some other smaller publishers, is a thriving example of Doing It Right. Interesting piece of public information that not many people know: Baen is a private company, about 30% owned by one Tom Doherty, CEO of Tor, itself a subsidiary of Macmillan.

cstross 17y ago

Actually, I'm picking a third choice: I'm pushing Macmillan for a DRM-free open format based solution. (And I'm pushing on a door that's ajar, but jammed: probably most or all of their editorial and many of their executive staff know that DRM is stupid, but changing corporate policy at a large, staid multinational headquartered overseas -- Macmillan is a subsidiary of Holtzbrinck -- is difficult and takes time.) The real solution is for the publishers to switch from wholesale (via channels like Amazon) to direct retail. The agency idea is a step along the way, but not the whole way. Some publishers already have done this: Baen's Webscription web storefront, shared by some other smaller publishers, is a thriving example of Doing It Right. Interesting piece of public information that not many people know: Baen is a private company, about 30% owned by one Tom Doherty, CEO of Tor, itself a subsidiary of Macmillan.