4 ms·

The common goal is not just obtaining x - people buy a book to have a physical book and the sensory experience reading it. People who download (pirated versions

by sqrt17 16y ago

The common goal is not just obtaining x - people buy a book to have a physical book and the sensory experience reading it. People who download (pirated versions of) books may or may not do the same with the book. Given that people who pirate books often download more than they would ever buy (or consume, for that matter), I think the equivalent would be more people sitting in a bookshop and casually browsing the book. Saying that you can convert HALF of the people who browse through your book in a bookstore to buyers is, if anything, proof that you lost contact with reality. The one thing that I do completely agree with in the article: "If you REALLY can’t afford books, ask your library to order them." Libraries are a great way for people to share books, and usually the cost of actually running the library (i.e. staffing and room) dwarfs acquisition costs for the books. Hence, recommending a book to your library that other people could like is generally a good thing. (And you have a nice, physical book, and the authors get some money. What's not to like).

angstrom 16y ago
I agree, this is the reason DRM should be relaxed to allow 20-30% of the book be readable without license. As it stands it's 100% readable when the DRM is stripped off.
- Jach 16y ago
  This is only really worthwhile if I get to pick-and-choose the 20-30% myself (which implies I could get the full 100% if I wanted to make the effort). A table of contents, chapters 1 and maybe 2, possibly 3, and perhaps an epilogue and index may constitute 20% of a book but wouldn't be very useful in many situations. As a concrete example, many programming books devote their first 100 pages or so to introductory material, even if around page 500 they start going into 3D vector spaces or such. I'm interested in that later material, not the introductory stuff, and I'd feel cheated if a Google-indexed Index page led me to believe I could get some free info when I couldn't. Edit: I would concede that fiction titles can benefit from releasing chapters 1, 2, 3 as a further hook into getting people to buy it. But people and publishers do this already, have for a long time, it works pretty well for them.
  - angstrom 16y ago
    It's worked fairly well for music, but in the case of reference material I agree it's a poor substitute to skimming the actual book. Maybe something like a Zune Pass for books would be better. Flat fee, read as much as you want, keep rights to download some for keeps.

by sqrt17 16y ago

angstrom 16y ago

I agree, this is the reason DRM should be relaxed to allow 20-30% of the book be readable without license. As it stands it's 100% readable when the DRM is stripped off.

Jach 16y ago
This is only really worthwhile if I get to pick-and-choose the 20-30% myself (which implies I could get the full 100% if I wanted to make the effort). A table of contents, chapters 1 and maybe 2, possibly 3, and perhaps an epilogue and index may constitute 20% of a book but wouldn't be very useful in many situations. As a concrete example, many programming books devote their first 100 pages or so to introductory material, even if around page 500 they start going into 3D vector spaces or such. I'm interested in that later material, not the introductory stuff, and I'd feel cheated if a Google-indexed Index page led me to believe I could get some free info when I couldn't. Edit: I would concede that fiction titles can benefit from releasing chapters 1, 2, 3 as a further hook into getting people to buy it. But people and publishers do this already, have for a long time, it works pretty well for them.
- angstrom 16y ago
  It's worked fairly well for music, but in the case of reference material I agree it's a poor substitute to skimming the actual book. Maybe something like a Zune Pass for books would be better. Flat fee, read as much as you want, keep rights to download some for keeps.