4 ms·

The Comeback of the Century

17 points by whack 7y ago

Helloworldboy 7y ago
books are such an absolute waste of natural resources
smacktoward 7y ago
My theory on this: the e-book industry shot itself in the foot with DRM. Lots of people pointed to the way the world's music buying habits shifted from buying CDs to buying MP3s (before it shifted again, to streaming) as an argument for why e-books would inevitably displace printed ones. But there was a fundamental difference between those two examples, namely that the music industry abandoned tying digital purchases to a single device via DRM relatively quickly, while the e-book industry held doggedly to the idea that e-books bought from Amazon should only work on Kindles, e-books from B&N should only work on Nooks, etc. Which made e-books notably less appealing from the buyer's standpoint; with digital music you could have a reasonable assurance that your purchase today would play on the device you own tomorrow. With e-books, you could not, and you still can't. (Yes yes, I know about Calibre and so forth. I'm talking here about how these things looked from the perspective of the average person.) It's a great example of how all the players in a competitive market can hurt their long-term interests by relentlessly pursuing their short-term ones. It was in everyone's short-term interest to try and grab more market share at the expense of their competitors by locking customers into a closed ecosystem. But by doing so they passed up the opportunity to grow the entire market. And a small slice of a huge pie beats a big slice of a small one any day.
- stmfreak 7y ago
  Plus they priced them the same despite the extreme limits on portability, lending, resale, etc. I love ebooks, but I don’t buy ebooks with DRM.
- chrismcb 7y ago
  I don't think many people care about DRM. Most people have only one reader, so the fact their kindle book doesn't work on a nook didn't bother them. What hurt the industry was the book publishers getting upset at Amazon and choosing the agency route. With most ebooks more expensive than their mass market counterpart. And the lack of sales, as you could never sale the ebook for less than agency price.
  - nine_k 7y ago
    Try thinking about a device breaking, so you lose access to all your e-books until you buy a new one. Then imagine the line of devices being discontinued, or no more available in your country, etc. Apps sort of solve it, as long as they are maintained, and you can get hold of a compatible device. Or maybe your book will be withdrawn because it stopped being available, due to copyrights or other legal reasons. In short, once you buy a music track, you own it, for personal purposes. Once you pay for an Amazon e-book, you keep renting it.
    - chrismcb 7y ago
      Yes, this is an issue, but one most people don't consider. Personally in on my fourth kindle, either because I lost it or broke it. Your analogy is of course broken, especially consider most music is purchaeed through iTunes of similar. Of course I'm not renting my book, I bought it and own. And the issue hasn't been decided in the court of law. I understand what you are saying, but the most people don't know not care.
- skookumchuck 7y ago
  I don't buy DRM-encumbered ebooks. Sorry, Amazon. I buy the hardcopy if there are no DRM-free ebooks.
hirundo 7y ago
> A typical rage tweet by President Trump, misspelled and grammatically sad, may get him 100,000 “likes.” Is there something in the NYT style guide requiring a minimum of gratuitous shots at Trump?
- Turing_Machine 7y ago
  Yes, 90% of this opinion piece consists of anti-Trump rants and over-the-top fawning over Michelle Obama's book (which is, of course, available on all the major ebook platforms, so I'm not sure why it's even relevant to the author's thesis). The rest of the piece is borderline deceptive. Ebooks from major publishers haven't destroyed print sales from major publishers for the reasons mentioned by others in this thread -- the main reason being that the major publishers price their ebooks artificially high to avoid cutting into their print sales (DRM plays a smaller role, but its effect isn't non-existent, either). The reason this is deceptive is because the major publishers do not own the ebook market, or anywhere close to it. Indie ebooks are doing fine, in fact they are curb-stomping the major publishers in this area, as a casual glance at the Kindle best-seller lists in different genres will conclusively show. You are being unfairly modded down for your observation. This is not "tech news" by any reasonable definition of the term. It is straight political ranting with a thin layer of tech-bashing on top. Flagging.
open-source-ux 7y ago
E-Readers (like the e-ink Kindle and Kobo) have never broken out of the black-and-white, small paperback form-factor. Which makes them ideal for reading...small, black-and-white paperback titles. But nothing else. Books come in an infinite variety of shapes and sizes. E-readers and tablets do not. Shape, colour, double-page layouts, plus the tactile feel of paper are all intrinsic to the design of so many books. E-readers and tablets simply can't accommodate those qualities. E-readers work well for reading paperback-sized fiction and non-fiction titles, but I don't think anyone really expected them to replace physical books.

17 points by whack 7y ago

books are such an absolute waste of natural resources

My theory on this: the e-book industry shot itself in the foot with DRM. Lots of people pointed to the way the world's music buying habits shifted from buying CDs to buying MP3s (before it shifted again, to streaming) as an argument for why e-books would inevitably displace printed ones. But there was a fundamental difference between those two examples, namely that the music industry abandoned tying digital purchases to a single device via DRM relatively quickly, while the e-book industry held doggedly to the idea that e-books bought from Amazon should only work on Kindles, e-books from B&N should only work on Nooks, etc. Which made e-books notably less appealing from the buyer's standpoint; with digital music you could have a reasonable assurance that your purchase today would play on the device you own tomorrow. With e-books, you could not, and you still can't. (Yes yes, I know about Calibre and so forth. I'm talking here about how these things looked from the perspective of the average person.) It's a great example of how all the players in a competitive market can hurt their long-term interests by relentlessly pursuing their short-term ones. It was in everyone's short-term interest to try and grab more market share at the expense of their competitors by locking customers into a closed ecosystem. But by doing so they passed up the opportunity to grow the entire market. And a small slice of a huge pie beats a big slice of a small one any day.

stmfreak 7y ago
Plus they priced them the same despite the extreme limits on portability, lending, resale, etc. I love ebooks, but I don’t buy ebooks with DRM.
chrismcb 7y ago
I don't think many people care about DRM. Most people have only one reader, so the fact their kindle book doesn't work on a nook didn't bother them. What hurt the industry was the book publishers getting upset at Amazon and choosing the agency route. With most ebooks more expensive than their mass market counterpart. And the lack of sales, as you could never sale the ebook for less than agency price.
- nine_k 7y ago
  Try thinking about a device breaking, so you lose access to all your e-books until you buy a new one. Then imagine the line of devices being discontinued, or no more available in your country, etc. Apps sort of solve it, as long as they are maintained, and you can get hold of a compatible device. Or maybe your book will be withdrawn because it stopped being available, due to copyrights or other legal reasons. In short, once you buy a music track, you own it, for personal purposes. Once you pay for an Amazon e-book, you keep renting it.
  - chrismcb 7y ago
    Yes, this is an issue, but one most people don't consider. Personally in on my fourth kindle, either because I lost it or broke it. Your analogy is of course broken, especially consider most music is purchaeed through iTunes of similar. Of course I'm not renting my book, I bought it and own. And the issue hasn't been decided in the court of law. I understand what you are saying, but the most people don't know not care.
skookumchuck 7y ago
I don't buy DRM-encumbered ebooks. Sorry, Amazon. I buy the hardcopy if there are no DRM-free ebooks.

hirundo 7y ago

> A typical rage tweet by President Trump, misspelled and grammatically sad, may get him 100,000 “likes.” Is there something in the NYT style guide requiring a minimum of gratuitous shots at Trump?

Turing_Machine 7y ago
Yes, 90% of this opinion piece consists of anti-Trump rants and over-the-top fawning over Michelle Obama's book (which is, of course, available on all the major ebook platforms, so I'm not sure why it's even relevant to the author's thesis). The rest of the piece is borderline deceptive. Ebooks from major publishers haven't destroyed print sales from major publishers for the reasons mentioned by others in this thread -- the main reason being that the major publishers price their ebooks artificially high to avoid cutting into their print sales (DRM plays a smaller role, but its effect isn't non-existent, either). The reason this is deceptive is because the major publishers do not own the ebook market, or anywhere close to it. Indie ebooks are doing fine, in fact they are curb-stomping the major publishers in this area, as a casual glance at the Kindle best-seller lists in different genres will conclusively show. You are being unfairly modded down for your observation. This is not "tech news" by any reasonable definition of the term. It is straight political ranting with a thin layer of tech-bashing on top. Flagging.

open-source-ux 7y ago

E-Readers (like the e-ink Kindle and Kobo) have never broken out of the black-and-white, small paperback form-factor. Which makes them ideal for reading...small, black-and-white paperback titles. But nothing else. Books come in an infinite variety of shapes and sizes. E-readers and tablets do not. Shape, colour, double-page layouts, plus the tactile feel of paper are all intrinsic to the design of so many books. E-readers and tablets simply can't accommodate those qualities. E-readers work well for reading paperback-sized fiction and non-fiction titles, but I don't think anyone really expected them to replace physical books.