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The (only) issue is the Kindle (which I love, and own four of). Amazon sold e-books at what some called "predatory pricing", using their large profits in other
by ghshephard 12y ago
The (only) issue is the Kindle (which I love, and own four of). Amazon sold e-books at what some called "predatory pricing", using their large profits in other parts of their business, to allow them to sell below cost on their DRM-encumbered reading device. I would guess that close to 90% of e-book reader who purchase books, do so on a Kindle capable device (iPad, iPhone, or E-Ink reader).
These people (and I am one of them) - only purchase e-books from Amazon. Because it's DRM encumbered, we need to make sure we purchase content from a supplier who is going to be around 10-20 years from now.
Only Amazon (and possibly Apple) has any strong probability of being in that category right now.
This gives Amazon an outsized ability to negotiate with vendors - Amazon is close to being a Monopoly for both the ebook purchasers, and Monopsony for the ebook sellers.
There was a small chance to correct this back when Apple attempted to negotiate agency and MFN rights for their book selling business, but they did it in heavy handed and clumsy way that appeared to the DOJ to be collusion. Some have argued that what Apple did with the book publishers was not that different than what Apple did with the Music publishers - the key difference, of course, is that there was no "Amazon" to complain about their market position being disrupted by a new business model.
I'll still continue to purchase books from Amazon, as distasteful as I find their current negotiating strategy, but I would be (very) happy to see the book publishers decided that DRM encumbered books will ultimately be their downfall because of the negotiating leverage it gives the DRM platform owner.
See: http://stratechery.com/2014/publishers-deal-devil/ http://stratechery.com/2014/publishers-deal-devil/ for a nice literary analysis of the situation.
- kemayo 12y agoI'm one of these Kindle-owners. I want to correct a misconception: it's not inherently DRM-encumbered. Books you buy from Amazon can have DRM or not, depending on the publisher[1]. Books you buy from other stores will work fine on Kindle so long as said other stores aren't using DRM themselves. Admittedly, if you buy a book in EPUB format from another store you'll have to convert it to one of the formats Kindle supports. Amazon provides a program to do so, and independent stores like Baen[2] tend to give you a choice of formats anyway. (Kindle not supporting EPUB natively seems pretty blatantly designed to avoid competition, since it's the non-Amazon industry standard at this point. No argument there.) [1]: http://www.niemanlab.org/2010/01/amazon-quietly-lets-publishers-remove-drm-from-kindle-ebooks/ http://www.niemanlab.org/2010/01/amazon-quietly-lets-publish... [2]: http://www.baenebooks.com/ http://www.baenebooks.com/
- ghshephard 12y agoThanks - I had no idea that I could purchase books from Amazon.com that did not have DRM. This even more strengthens the responsibility for DRM to be on the publishers hands - simply by eliminating the DRM from their books, I could purchase their books from any publisher, and read them on any device - which would eliminate my need to go to Amazon for a new book. I wonder how much discussion has gone on with the publishers about eliminating DRM on their content. The music publishers certainly went that way...
- deleted 12y ago[deleted]
- swetland 12y agoTo the best of my knowledge (I'd love a pointer to details if I'm wrong), the reason Kindle has DRM at all is entirely due to publisher demands for it.
- rmc 12y agoYep. DRM is totally optional. I sell ebooks on Kindle Store which are based on OpenStreetMap data. CC licence (at the time) meant that I couldn't use DRM. Not a problem.
- MichaelGG 12y agoAnd not only that, but you can email them directly to your Kindle. So a third-party store could just ask for your Kindle email, have you add it to the whitelist and "then" provide a fairly streamlined experience.
- kemayo 12y agoBaen do indeed do that: http://www.baenebooks.com/t-ereaderinstructions.aspx#kindle http://www.baenebooks.com/t-ereaderinstructions.aspx#kindle
- WalterBright 12y agoI own several Kindles. I load my own content onto them, including ebooks I make myself. Owning a Kindle simply does not lock you into buying books from Amazon.
- danmaz74 12y agoNo but it forces a seller who wants to use DRM to sell to you through Amazon
- deleted 12y ago[deleted]
- chx 12y agoThis is why I buy books from Barnes and Noble: it's so damned easy to strip the DRM.