Re: e-book pricing

From: Brian D Williams (talon57@well.com)
Date: Wed Jul 26 2000 - 07:38:26 MDT


From: Lee Daniel Crocker <lee@piclab.com>

>> <sigh> That's what I get for glibness. I mean't that I believe
>> the problem of piracy of copyrighted material will limit the
>> growth of electronically published material.

>Yes, most people seem to believe that, but if you've been
>following discussion here it should be obvious that that opinion
>is far from a consensus. What limits the growth of electronically
>published material is copyright itself, not the technologies that
>work around it. The technologies do perhaps limit the growth of
>businesses built around the assumption of copyright--but I've
>still seen no convincing argument that a flourishing publishing
>industry couldn't be built around different assumptions.

I should state that I love the idea of books being accessible in an
electronic form, I dream of the day when the thousands of volumes
I own can be accessed via a portable terminal. I own a legitimate
copy of the first book published for sale electronically (Winn
Schwartau's Terminal Compromise) and look forward to the day all
books will be available.

But today's facts don't fit the dream. I see writers and musicians
being ripped off left and right, and the pirates using the same age
old excuses for their behavior.

I see what Napster is doing as wrong, and I hope they get grilled
slow on a spit for it.

Brian

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