Has the Ebook hit its tipping point? One wonders with the Kindle, Sony, and the soon to be released Nook (and of course the dark horse...Apple's vaporware tablet thingamajig), whether the book will finally go the way of the CD and newspaper?
I doubt it. The book is a little more resilient then other mediums. When I am on the beach or on vacation I don't want to curl up with another computer type device (can you say sand in your electronics!). Of course as the devices become more ubiquitous I am sure my sons will find them more appealing. My guess then, with this rush to convert books to electrons, is that everyone wants lightning to strike twice (iRead anyone?). Companies see what Apple has done with music and want to jump on that money making scheme. The roadblocks to such comparisons are 1) basic book cost and the medium, 2) needing another device, and 3) ownership.
1) In music the "single" was always the driver. In the days of analog and the record it was easy to market a song as a 45 so when iTunes came along it basically just reinvented the 50s way of distributing music. Books are sold entirely different. A book is an album not a song. You can't parse it in chunks...it is what it is. Publishers sell a book in multiple formats extracting smaller and smaller profits with each release. The book is a very different form of entertainment then a song or even a movie. In rare instance books are read again but of the three mediums my guess is that books are read then never looked again. An interesting question then is what is the value or price point of a book? How much time does it take to create a song versus a book? A song has the artist, the recording studio, the band members and what not. To me that is a huge apparatus and yet it goes for 99 cents. Now take a book...you have the creater, their computer (typewriter, hand written notes) and maybe an editor? A song takes maybe a month to create 4 minutes and a book may take 6 - 12 months and take a week to read? How does one value that? A song is 99 cents, an album is $9.99, a new movie release is $19.99...what is a book price point? Publishers have set a hardback at $30.00 (of course at WalMart you could get it for $12.99!) and $6.99 for a paperback. The price points has been set and I translate these costs to the cost of actually producing a bound paper copy. What then is the cost of sending me electrons? Does the price have to support the creator? Does a 99 cent song support the musician?
2) I love books and currently reading an electronic copy on the computer or my iTouch is painful. I have also at times tried the whole MS Reader and an old Rocketebook. They all just don't compare all that well with a real book. Who wants another electronic device? Ever try to read in bed with a computer? Plus don't you want a media device...one that you can read a book while listening to your tunes? Current Ebooks are pretty expensive one trick ponies and why they will never appeal to the masses.
3) And the final gripe to me is who owns an electronic book? After much problems, music has settled on the mp3. Every device plays it and you own your music. Now the same battle is reshaping over book copyrights.
The
NY Times adds to the fray on whether the book you electronically buy should be copy protected and I take the following quote to be total BS,
"On the other hand, yes, unprotected books at this stage would be easily and wildly pirated — the barriers to staying ethical would be so low, people would pass around books like they forward e-mail jokes — and it would cost the book industry dearly."
Oh really? so I am being unethical when I give my book to my wife so that she can read it (or to my neighbor and what about the libraries of the world?) This is the same argument about music and movies that make me cringe. Growing up I had a tape deck...I would record songs on the radio, make mix tapes send them to my friends, and you know I wasn't paying for it. Same thing with movies and HBO and dual tape machines. This piracy thing ain't new...I remember my dad borrowing someones album and recording it to a tape on his tape deck. Sure the medium has changed but any form of entertainment can and will be copied. That is the nature of ideas. Ideas are meant to spread...
Studies seem to indicate (one in article above, others studies by the authors Gaiman and Doctorow) that if you give away your book for free not only do sales of book stay the same they actually increase. I think most people would agree that they are willing to pay something for someones creation...the problem is what and who are you paying for? Has a hardback book at $30.00 going changed any when it is published as a paperback? Has the value of the written word changed at all? Of this price what does the author receive? You know we could probably segway into the health insurance argument right about now...
Bottom line in all of this is not the author or the inventor but that the middleman wants his slice of nothing. Today's digital world brings us closer to the creator and thus we don't need that music industry, book publisher, or whatever. How often has it been said that the creator over the years has been screwed by the industry for making a whole lot more money then the creator. The industry says what about cost to advertise and support the creator? Yeah well the Internet axes the middle man. The internet has become the distributor. All creators want to become rich and further their creations but in the big scheme of things only a few creators become famous and most toil unknown for years without earning a penny. Distribute your creation!
