TeleRead: Bring the E-Books Home

Rich, each to his own. In either case, we’re talking rental. The B&N system is dependent on credit card information, which can change. Simply put, both have their faults.

As a “buyer,” I find it exceedingly rational to object to both DRM systems. The $5 is too much just to make up for B&N’s being less onerous.

Rather than just getting angry, I’ve told B&N what needs to be done–create the ePub equivalent of Amazon’s DRMless MP3 store.

“If a book is a must-have book, then it is worth buying in hard copy as a permanent addition to my library, and Conroy is certainly not of that class.”

Conroy has his faults as a writer, but I do enjoy him–even if someday I may have to rebuy “South” as a used paperback.

Thanks,
David

David did the right thing.

Despite his animus towards Amazon/Bezos by giving his money to the low price seller (which this time happens to be Amazon – next time perhaps it won’t) he is signaling to the market that he won’t pay more than the “standard” DRM’ed ebook price of $9.99.

Publishers have to learn that the mass of the market will NOT spend more than a ten spot for an ebook encumbered with DRM. We, the buyers, have that power you know

Perhaps the lesson they will take away is that the market might respond to a $15.00 ebook if it is sold sans DRM in a device agnostic format.

Just curious – how many TeleRead visitors WOULD pay that 50% price difference ($10 vs. $15) for a DRM free ebook?

“I myself would probably buy that Conroy book for $15 if it were DRMfree, simply because I like Conroy despite his weaknesses. But even that price is far too high.”

How about $16.47 for a completely DRM-free, sharable, resellable, persistent version? That’s what Amazon is asking for the hardback (with free shipping if you buy another $8.53 worth of stuff at the same time).

Too high? Well, if you’re more price-sensitive, and don’t care as much about owning it, you can order it from your local library and pay $0.00.

Why is paying $9.99 or $15 for a version you can’t own more appealing in this case?

I think Rich is exactly right. You can’t say you don’t want DRM while still buying DRM books. The company will not get a clue until you stop buying. You can whine all you want: you’re still buying, they’re still selling. And snickering the whole time.

I don’t buy DRM books, haven’t for months now. If I wanted the book that badly, I’d buy a hard copy. That’s currently the only way to get the value of the money you’re spending, unless you buy a good, low cost, drm free book.

I will not pay more for a lack of DRM either. How are you going to put chains on my purchase then charge me extra for removing them? If we consumers didn’t go for this stuff, the sellers wouldn’t be getting away with doing it. They’re selling because we’re buying. The prices are too high and the DRM is wrong. I like reading on my Cybook, but it’s not so great that I’m going to let these companies treat me like that. The DRM needs to get gone, AND the prices need to come down.

HeavyG asked who would pay $15 for a non-DRMed ebook vs. $10 for the same book with DRM. I would, especially for nonfiction. But the formatting at that price would have to approach that of the print version, including the ability to zoom in on illustrations, tables, and the like. I would view it as a viable alternative to my purchasing the print version in hardcover, which is what I currently do.

Fiction would be a tough sell to me. I do buy fiction in hardcover, but from a limited number of authors, wuch as David Weber and Harry Turtledove. Otherwise I buy fiction in ebook form, but only if it is DRM free.

To me DRM reduces a book’s value by 75-90% and I am unwilling to pay above $5 for a DRM-ladened book.

I don’t think David did the rigt thing because he muddied his message and simply demonstrated to Amazon that even the most vocal anti-DRMer will buy a DRMed book if the price is right. I disagree with HeavyG that this is a way to say that $9.99 is the DRM price point. Eventually, unless the publishers capitulate, Amazon will have to raise that price point. What would David have done if Amazon sold Conroy’s book at $12.99 and all other bookstores were selling it at $14.99 in ebook form? If David bought at $12.99, what would the message have been then?

Is the Teleread motto now “Do as I say, not as I do”?

@ felix-

There is lots of free content out there, I’m not at all worried about zero content. And if I want a best seller I can get it at my library or buy a hard copy. I’m not so enthralled with reading ebooks that I’m going to willingly be screwed around.

Where are these Sony Vaio laptops now? Unfortunately people would buy a laptop filled with crap because they don’t know that’s what they’re getting. Once they learn what’s being offered, I hope they would be smart enough to choose a different laptop.

I also wanted to add to my list of what makes an ebook valuable – formatting. The quality of what we’re being sold is ridiculously insultingly poor. That plus the DRM and price issues, multiple file formats, all these things make the ebook market a big ugly mess right now. As I said, I like reading ebooks, but not so much that I’m going to keep parting with my money for a poor quality high priced product. I’d rather go without, or choose a better alternative. And I’ve lived a long time just fine without ebooks. They have no leverage over me to force me into buying.

@ David -

We all have to make the choices that are right for us. But when you buy a drm’d book, you’re telling the seller that they can keep on selling because you’re going to keep on buying. Your dollars speak much louder than any words against what you’re buying. Complain, complain, complain, but YOU’RE STILL BUYING. It’s all background noise, drowned out by the sound of cash registers ringing. You don’t like drm, but your position isn’t so firm that you’re willing to back it up with your dollars. Your choice to make, but let’s not pretend it’s anything other than what it is.

@ HeavyG

We can show the publishers we want non-drm ebooks by buying non-drm ebooks. And we can write letters to them telling them we want non-drm ebooks. They’d have to be pretty stupid not to get a clue. And if they don’t get a clue, that’s fine with me. There are people selling non-drm ebooks.

I would also rent a drm ebook – for a dollar or less.

Holding your breath until you turn blue doesn’t work because even if you keep holding your breath, the worst that will happen is you will pass out, at which time you’ll breathe again. It’s self defeating. It’s pointless. And it’s a bad analogy.

I can live without ebooks forever. Let them stop selling them. It’s ok with me.

There is a huge amount of free ebooks already available that I doubt are going anywhere as long as they’re in the public domain, and there are plenty of new authors willing to take advantage of the internet and give their work away to expose themselves to new readers.

If you don’t care about drm, then that’s your choice. The problem is people who say they hate drm and want it gone, but who keep on buying drm ebooks. Your money is speaking louder than any complaints you may have. You can’t keep saying you don’t want it, while PROVING you’re willing to pay for it.

I was just looking at the Simon and Schuster website. They are selling ebooks for the same price as hardcovers. Ha. There is no comparison in the value for the dollar, the hardcover is worth infinitely more than an ebook version is. But hey, if people are willing to buy, they’re willing to sell.

I sincerely doubt ebooks are going away. Publishers are just trying to figure out how much they can screw us for, I mean sell them for of course.

Christine said:
“Where are these Sony Vaio laptops now? Unfortunately people would buy a laptop filled with crap because they don’t know that’s what they’re getting. Once they learn what’s being offered, I hope they would be smart enough to choose a different laptop.”
____________________________________________________
As a matter of fact, those VAIO laptops and their sucessors are still out there and still selling as well as any Sony product sells these days. And they are no different from the stuff HP and Dell peddle.
And people, so far, have simple come back for more.

The market will bear what the market will bear.

In this case the endpoint “solution”, for now, appears to be a new philosophy within Windows where the OS will now explicitly identify performance-sapping and/or crash inducing applications so people stop blaming Windows for the OEM’s crimes.
Would be nice if people boycotted laptop vendors that load their product with ad-ware but that ad- and demo-ware brings upfront money to the table so removing it costs them money. For the vendors the choice is literally selling a clean version at a higher street price, losing sales, or an infested version at a lower price. Given that most of the savvy folks know how to remove the ad-ware they go with the polluted boxes and give Apple all the room they need for their product-libel ads.
That is life in the real world, unfortunately.
The market bears what the market bears.
Sometimes the price is money, sometimes convenience, sometimes features.
Crusades can nudge the market sometimes but even crusaders have to live in the real world.
One should always be prepared for all outcomes; it may be that ebook DRM dies entirely (doubtful unless ebook libraries die with it), it may get toned down (very possible but not certain), or it could be that the market will find that the bulk of the buying public doesn’t care about DRM the way us theoreticians do.
At that point the option would be to join the black helicopter crowd prepared to live off the grid and google’s ad-supported library or make a peace with honor with the enemy.
Time will tell but a bit of pragmatism never hurts any crusade. More often it is the uncompromising true believers that hurt the cause. (See AMIGA, Commodore; OS2, IBM for examples.)
A sense of perspective can only help the cause and the final goal.
Here, I think we all agree the final goal is a pricing and distribution system that allows the ebook industry to grow and flourish and deliver something close to the full potential of the technology. And it would help to pay attention to what the market tells us cause that is the sign of things to come.
So far, the market cares about DRM… a bit.
The market cares about functionality, convenience, and reading experience a bit more.
And the market cares about pricing…a whole LOT!
That may change, but I’m thinking the pricing war needs to be settled before the DRM war gets addressed.

“People who buy cheap and sacrifice convenience deserve neither cheapness nor convenience.”

Didn’t Ben Franklin say that? Anyway…

I, too, would have sooner paid more for an e-book presented the way I wanted it, then accept a format (and DRM) I didn’t appreciate, just to save a few bucks. IMO, you get what you pay for.

Presently there are a number of books that have been out for a year or more, but not yet in e-book formats… or (in the case of the latest Wild Cards novel) in e-books priced at hardcover price. As much as I want to read those books, I’ve refused to touch them, and I won’t until they are offered in a way that I’ll accept, reasonably priced and with No DRM. If they don’t become reasonable… they won’t get bought. Period. End of a series I’ve enjoyed for almost 2 decades now.

Because I want to be entertained, just as I want to entertain with my own novels… but not at the expense of getting ripped off.

David, have you all published a comparison of the DRM on Kindle ebooks and BN ebooks? I know that BN has a reader for several platforms that Kindle does not right now (ie Blackberry, PC, Mac), though it currently lacks a compatible ereader (hello, plastic logic).

But beyond that, are the limits imposed by the BN DRM format substantially different than Amazon’s DRM format?

Thanks.