Thursday 5 February 2009

I'd like to be using e-books, but...

There are three reasons I am not currently purchasing my books in electronic form. The price, the device and DRM.

For the price, publishers are currently charging equivalent costs for an e-book as they do for the paper copy, which vastly inflates their profit margin mostly because they don't want e-books to cut into hardcover sales. They would make more money if people bought the e-book instead, and more people would buy it if it were even a dollar cheaper.

As for the device, I don't have something that I have with me everywhere and allows me to use any e-book reader software. My phone is the closest, and I have, in fact, read two free books on it, but the experience did not convince me to go so far as to purchase anything. Frankly, I will end up using either my phone or my portable media player, assuming either one is capable and my other concerns are met.

DRM, or copy protection, is the final sticking point. I don't want to pay for e-books only to have them locked to my portable reader. If I wish, I want to read sitting at my PC, then transfer the bookmark to my portable reader to take on the train with me. When that reader wears out and my PC dies, I want my e-library to come with me without having to repurchase the books.

Mokalus of Borg

PS - Textbooks on something like the Kindle would make a killing.
PPS - This rant mostly inspired by a long article on e-books.

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