The likely availability of distributed, low cost, intelligent, OCR-scanning will put print publishers in pretty much the same boat as the music industry. Digital copying of text will be as easy and as useful as digital copying of recorded music (until recently digital copying meant copying the dumb image, not capturing the textual information in the typography. Google Book Search changed that).
I point this out not out of a desire to "put the frighteners on" print publishers, but to suggest that there is still time enough for print to get out of the hole the music business has dug itself. Get licensing those digital editions! Provide legitimate low cost access to everything for which you have a PDF file and valid title! There is no point in hanging back, publishers must build those digital markets before your customers start mode-shifting your content -- its a business imperative. The iPhone creates great potential for publishers, but if they dont seize it, they will find they have lost much more than a new opportunity.
Ah, such hope! That a jillion voices all saying the same damned thing will finally penetrate the thick skulls of an ollllld entrenched industry.
I see such tactics worked very well with all the Oil Companies. I mean, can't we all go out and buy Exxon-Mobil solar panels?! Aren't we all using BP quantum heaters? And Citgo zero point energy slabs in our cellphones?
Yeah, right.
If Teh Suits had any idea of how their industry was being taken away from them by The Darknet, they'd have the same liquid shits the greedy bankers have been experiencing.
I don't want Comments from Suits within their constipated conglomerates telling me "We're really trying." In plain talk: Fuck that shit. Must I pull that stupid Yoda quote out of my ass to wave at you? (And if you don't know that Yoda quote, please take that as a sign of your obsolescence and retire!)
While you lot diddle one another -- I read a wonderful term for you today: pearl-clutchers! -- your readership is taking the matter into their own hands with The Darknet.
Spray as much DRM as you like on things. The DarkNets will built a better Removal Tool.
That's when you even bother to release something in e. For all that stuff still trapped in p? Too much for your continued well-being already exists in e. Just ask Harry Potter fans!
Get it done.
Oh, and if you want to see just how feeble and pathetic your efforts to date have been, see The eBook Test blog. That's how sad you lot really are!
Previously here:
Reading Books Plummets In Japan Too
Apple iTunes (Store) Trademark Evolution
You're All Wrong: It's The iPod Air!
The Reasons Why eBooks Are Next For Apple
It's NOT Lower Prices, You Eejits! It's iPod Air!
And So The iPod Air Is Coming After All!
eBook On An iPhone: One Example
iPhone Wireless Printing?
Reference: iPhone/iPod Touch Screen Size
More Of That Non-Existent iPhone Effect
When An Expert Uses An iPhone
iPhone eBook Reader Stanza Available
Memo To Steve Jobs: iPhone Owners READ!
iDay 2008 + 1 = LONG Lines!!!
eReader On iPhone: What It Looks Like
Southern NYC iDay 2007 In 56 Photos!
Flashback: iPhone 2007
MSI Wind = Ten-Inch Screen MacBook?
Video: eBooks On iPhone/iPod Touch
What Apple Better Not Miss About eBooks
For God’s Sake, Get eBooks Going, Steve Jobs!
iPod Air: See You In September?
A Gadget Too Far
No iPod Air Next Week
American Tech Companies: Wake Up!
It’s Now All Down To Apple Vs. Google
Apple: You’ll Get It When You Can Sync It?
What eChanges Will High Oil Prices Bring?
Reference: iPhone/iPod Touch Backup/Sync
An Example Of iPhone/iPod Touch Keyboard Lag
The iPod Air Will Be Better …
I Said Apple Sync Was Important: Here’s Proof
eInk eBook Readers: They’re All Dead, Jim!
What’s This? iPod Air Next Month?
iPhone Continues To Swallow The Internet
Apple’s Sync Strategy Finally Arriving?
Now We Know Why Apple Bought A Chipmaker
Amazon: Already Toast
Future iPods: Piper Jaffray’s Blind Spot
Writers Don’t Fear The Future: Publishers Do!
The Lesson Of Apple Isn’t New, But It Works
The Three Companies Apple Should Acquire
Apple Has Magic The Others Don’t
Apple And eBooks: Why The Delay
For The Record: Apple and eBooks
Memo To Steve Jobs: People DO Still Read!
The Three Big As: Apple, Amazon, Adobe
Peak iPod: Has Apple Reached Its End?
One More Time: Apple And Ebooks
Is Apple’s Tablet The iPod Air?
Why Apple’s Design Is Excellent
Steve Jobs Is Up To Something. Probably Big.
Does Apple Want To Be King Of Ebooks?