Yet again, I find myself writing about e-readers. In a seemingly wave pattern, this time we're back to a low. And it's a pretty low low at that.
I was pretty excited about buying a nook, and had promised myself that I would buy it after my graduation as a present to myself. Oh well, it was nice to to get excited for a couple of weeks.
Apparently, it is not only the nook which requires a U.S. credit card, U.S. billing and shipping address, and a U.S. IP address to purchase. Nope. All of those are also required to even buy volumes from the B&N ebook store. So my grandmaster plan of buying a nook here, then having access to books in Lebanon in a nice legal way sadly went down the toilet. Of course, as Habib suggested, I could have him set up the account, order my books, download them to my computer, find a way to send him money, and finally manage to read them on my nook. I could also very *very* easily download a less than legal copy from a variety of sources. I was hoping to avoid that option. Although, if technically I'm in Lebanon, and technically nobody owns the particular ebook copyright in Lebanon, hence the reason it is not available, would I technically be stealing from anyone?
Even with kindle, which has an international edition, one can not download kindle content in Lebanon without a U.S. credit card and address. I could of course wait for the ebook reading market in Lebanon to grow big enough to warrant somebody taking on the financial risk and task of selling ebooks to the public. I could wait for the next 20 years, and I might be in Lebanon only for a year.
This is such a widespread complaint, and it's so ridiculous I can't believe it's a problem. For the first time, maybe in history, people are actually begging publishers and sellers to let them spend money and buy their products!! These publishers need to adapt to this new connected world without borders or go the way of the Dodo. I think that if the U.N., or whoever makes up international law, can't guarantee peace, then we're at a fair rate of worldwide connectivity that at the very least, they should come up with international laws regarding the transfer of electronic intellectual content and property, so that anybody around the world has the same access to these books and information. I find it discriminatory and unfair that people in the U.S. can have unlimited access to electronically published material, while people in other countries can not due to bickering and sometimes unsuccessful negotiations (read: greedy for more money) about copyright.
And here we come to my final main point. I can buy a book and own it. I can buy it locally, online, be in Lebanon and order it by mail, or have my local bookstore order the book. It will be mine. I can lend it to my friend, and when he's done with it I can lend it to another friend and when she's done with it, I can lend it to a third. I can read it a few more times, and have the whole family read it. I can then sell it as a used copy to someone else. That someone can read it, then lend it to his friends, his family. He can donate it to a public library, where dozens of people can check the book out for free and read the book. I bought a "very good" used copy of Robert Jordan's "The Great Hunt" which is over 710 pages long for 1 cent and paid $2.99 for shipping. $3.00 in total. The book is currently on my shelf in a lovely condition, and I own it. If I wanted to buy the electronic version of "The Great Hunt" on either B&N or Kindle, I would have to pay $7.99 for a DRM pain in the ass protected format that will only be readable on a couple of devices linked to my account which is linked to my U.S. credit card number and address. If you've ever tried to play a P.C. game overloaded with spyware-like protective software, you'll understand how annoying this stuff can be. Did I mention that a *new* mass market paperback from B&N cost $7.19? Cheaper than the ebook? What the heck then is the point of an ebook if you have to pay $150 for the e-reader and more for the ebook?!
So in conclusion, it's possible that I will buy the E-reader just to have a comfortable reading platform on which I can read DRM-free ebooks downloaded in an unsavory fashion. And I suppose the nook is a good platform. Plus, the classics which are pre-1923 and some between 1923-1964 are all public domain and can be legally downloaded for free. I just have a lot of affection for books, I'd like to feel guilt-free when obtaining them.
I guess I will think some more on it.
Cheers.
Protecting copyrights is how DRM started but then publishers learned DRM can always be easily hacked. Music, Video, & Books are impossible to secure due to the analog hole.
ReplyDeleteBut publishers also found out that DRM can be used to limit use to one customer per product, prevent lending, borrowing, and reselling. Basically people who pirate will always pirate Publishers understand they wont get that revenue no matter but on the other hand they found out that they can get more revenue by killing two industries where they don't get any revenue: renting, and used sales.
If you carefully read the agreement of most online products you don't own anything. For example, when you buy a game, you don't own it anymore, it's more like a non transferable, non refundable license.
It kind of sucks for people who buy their online products legally. Publishers got greedy and basically are giving a big middle finger to loyal customers while not doing anything to curb the pirating. Will it hurt them in the future? This is still relatively recent and you won't know the repercussions until a few years from now once customers understand what DRM is and decide if they're okay with it.
Some companies are taking a different approach. They reward legal/loyal customers with free and frequent downloads and goodies. I have little hope. All the biggest players seem keen on DRM and controlling consumer use of their products.
You know this whole debate is so interesting. I really believe that very soon, especially with the announcement that color E-readers could be available by end of 2010 or in 2011, e-readers will become more the norm. Just like mp3 music files are replacing physical CD's, and mp3 players replaced CD players.
ReplyDeletePublishing companies need to understand how the digital world works. There has already been a bunch of lawsuits on who owns the copyrights to back list books (books published before 1990, before electronic rights became a contract standard), with publishing houses losing out. Like Random House, who despite losing a court case on the subject, sent letters to literary agents claiming to hold the back list rights.
What's starting to happen now, is that some literary agencies like the Wylie agency are publishing back list ebooks on their own, making an exclusive deal with amazon, and cutting out the publishing house. Publishing houses, like Random House and McMillan, retaliate by cutting publishing of the authors represented by Wylie. Which means a bunch of authors' works can now only by gotten through electronic means through amazon.
I really think publishing houses need to adjust. Their part is to put physical books on the shelf. If in the future no physical books are needed, then they need to quickly figure out how to become more like the music business, as in distributors.