The Ebook Scam

[Ulysses G.]

Ebooks have been around since the 1970s and have never caught on, but the-powers-that-be keep trying to shove them down our throats. Each and every time someone comes out with a new version of an eReader, the sellers tell us how great this one is and, once again, how eBooks are the next big thing. However, just because something is new does not always mean that it will take over the market - especially when the new technology is unnecessary or inferior to what it is trying to replace - it will be a long time before an E-reader compares with a real book. The movie people have been trying to make 3D movies popular for something like 50 years and they still have not caught on in a big way.

Many publishers want to get rid of paper books in order to increase their profit margin by a huge amount, but they have to get rid of the competition first. If the public has a choice between an awkward gizmo and a real book, ebooks will sell for traveling to remote areas or certain select uses, but will never take over the marketplace . What remains to be seen is if the Big Boys can force everyone in the industry to stop publishing on paper.

Because most people have no interest in reading from a computer screen - no matter how "superior" the screen is supposed to be - publishers keep insisting that E-readers will save the trees - "Save" for what? This is the biggest lie of the whole eBook scam. The wood will simply be used for something else (and probably something much less worthwhile). The only thing that will be "saved" is operating costs for publishers. They plan on cutting costs for paper and distribution and saving a bundle, but the chance of this being passed on to consumers is slim to none.

They know that the vast majority of consumers have no real interest in changing reading formats and it has to be sold somehow, so all of a sudden they have gone green - as in cold, hard cash. We get stuck with a whole bunch of unneeded, expensive, clunky machines and they make a shitload of money. The sad thing is that, despite all of the hype not one tree would be saved.

Edited February 8, 2010 by Ulysses G.

[angiud]

<--- Ebook Reader

:D

Edited February 8, 2010 by angiud

[harrry]

You could consider adding them to your stock.

[cdnvic]

I can't get used to reading for long intervals on a screen. I do like audiobooks though for slow work days or long trips.

[Gary A]

I'm a big fan of audio books. They can be listened to anywhere and I particularly like to listen when I am driving. My GPS plays audio books and I belong to the Audible book club. The GPS also plays that format. Why read when you can listen.

My Nokia E51 and my little Creative Zen also play my audio books.

Edited February 8, 2010 by Gary A

[harrry]

Many universitiesare using e-books almost exclusively for their libraries and readings.

[Ulysses G.]

You could consider adding them to your stock.

That is part of the con. That is why they are so intent to get rid of real books. You can only download them directly from the publishers or companies that they authorize to sell them. They can keep the entire selling price and don't have to share with distributers.

[Ulysses G.]

Many universitiesare using e-books almost exclusively for their libraries and readings.

They might be, but most students are reading them off computers - not E-readers - and don't have a lot of choice in the matter. That sounds like a clever way to force students to pay publishers prices for assigned reading instead of buying used textbooks second hand.

Edited February 8, 2010 by Ulysses G.

[quiksilva]

I can't abide reading e-books on a computer screen, I have heard good things about Amazon's kindle which is supposed to do a good job of imitating paper but still would never buy one, when reading books its dead tree format all the way... well almost all the way

These days I listen to a lot of audiobooks on my ipod, they are great for the car and whilst at the gym. I personally think audiobooks are a greater threat than e-books.

[JUDAS]

I've never read an Ebook though can definitely see there advantage in some situations. Give me Ebooks instead of humping around dozens of text books...

I'm guessing they are already extensively used in certain industries, such as aircraft maintenance? Would be a bit of a drag working in the bowls of a 'plane then having to climb out to check one of what must be hundreds of maintenance manuals etc.

[Meridian007]

I think the scarier side of this is the publishers' push to remove libraries. By creating e-books, publishers try to make libraries irrelevant. "Why go to a library? You can just download the book from us, (for a fee), and it will disappear, (as per digital distribution rights), after a small amount of time."

That, combined with lawsuits against libraries, (publishers have seen how much money the music industry makes, so they have decided that loaning books to people must be a copyright infraction), that the libraries can't afford, may eventually kill libraries as we know them today.

I will admit that I do read some books on my laptop, but only classics which can be downloaded for free from the Gutenberg project, and the Internet Archive project. I still prefer hardcopy, and I love libraries, so e-books won't change the way I read books.

Edited February 8, 2010 by Meridian007

[Ulysses G.]

Personally, I enjoy audio books when I am traveling on a car or bus, but, if it is any good, like a movie, it just makes me more interested in reading the actual book itself.

[Prudent_rabbit]

Im a recent Kindle buyer, after 5 weeks gotta say I love it, so far I have only bought 1 book from Amazon (John Twelve Hawks) and all the rest I have downloaded for free from either the Guttenburg site or from Amazon (just do a search on all books, and use the lowest price first for the filter). I find it great to read on the BTS and is the ideal companion when waiting, just click the switch and go. The screen is very easy on the eyes, I love the fact I can adjust the font so at the end of the day when my eyes are getting tired I can still read, the battery lasts a long time, its light and its got lots of books on it.....fantastic. Just at the end of the Original Dracula and then onto another classic, Count of Monte Christo, again all downloaded for free

[JUDAS]

I've never read an Ebook though can definitely see there advantage in some situations. Give me Ebooks instead of humping around dozens of text books...

I'm guessing they are already extensively used in certain industries, such as aircraft maintenance? Would be a bit of a drag working in the bowls of a 'plane then having to climb out to check one of what must be hundreds of maintenance manuals etc.

[Ulysses G.]

I agree about using E-readers for school or technical purposes. That stuff is supposed to be tedious. However, when it comes to reading for pleasure, I just can't imagine anyone wanting to pay more for a download than a physical book.

As far as legally reading old-timey, classic books from on-line, they can be downloaded for free, however, that is not really what the masses want to read (on a regular basis anyway), and besides, it is easy to find many of them for around one dollar in a nice, new pocket sized edition and even cheaper used. Just one dollar for a more enjoyable way to read something is not exactly going to break the bank.

Edited February 8, 2010 by Ulysses G.

[harrry]

what percentage of books in stock at your bookshop are 32 baht or less?

[zzdocxx]

One thing I can't see is, when you get done reading a regular book, you can pass around amongst your friends. But from what I hear, the ebooks that you buy, they are DRMd so that you can only have them on your own personal ebook reader.

[Ulysses G.]

what percentage of books in stock at your bookshop are 32 baht or less?

The e-Reader price for books that most people actually want is something like 14 dollars. Right now, Amazon is selling them for 10 dollars each download as a promotion to get people to buy $300 Kindles in order to read them, but there is a lot of pressure from publishers to raise the price considerably and Amazon has already agreed to do so for some of them. If they get rid of paper books, the sky will be the limit.

Think about all the falsehoods that were told to get people to switch to CDs - they told us that they would have better sound, last forever, never skip and as soon as we got rid of all our record players they would all be cheap. Yeah, sure...

As much as some people would like you to believe it, buying a $300 reading machine is not going to save the typical consumer any money.

Edited February 8, 2010 by Ulysses G.

[anonymouse]

One thing I can't see is, when you get done reading a regular book, you can pass around amongst your friends. But from what I hear, the ebooks that you buy, they are DRMd so that you can only have them on your own personal ebook reader.

That's another reason for not getting one, up here in Chiang Mai you can buy a book from the secondhand shops like Gecko and you get 50% back on the book.

If you download to your ereader once read it is worthless and you have paid full price for it

I'm thinking they will take on in a small way as other posters have mentioned for studying textbooks and technical matters. I think they will also appeal to those people that always need new toys, I can't see any serious readers buying these things.

[Gary A]

I pay $22 or $23 per month and receive 2 books per month. They have maybe 40,000 titles. I can play them on my computer, GPS, E 51 Nokia or my Creative Zen. They can't be easily passed on because of the Audible format and recognized registered devices. The free downloads, and there are many in the MP3 format, can be played on many different devices.

[endure]

Ebooks are at an immediate disadvantage in the UK as they're liable to VAT (sales tax) whereas paper books aren't.

[sceadugenga]

Personally I don't like the format, myself and gadgets don't get along.... laptops, phones, DVD players, satellite TV bizzos... and also too much screens stuff can be hard on the eyes.

I can see an advantage in storage though, I hate parting with books, I get the same enjoyment out of re-reading a good book as I get out of listening to good music more than once. At the moment it's either more book shelves or a drastic clear out of the house.

(Anybody know a generous second hand book dealer? }.

[cdnvic]

You could consider adding them to your stock.

That is part of the con. That is why they are so intent to get rid of real books. You can only download them directly from the publishers or companies that they authorize to sell them. They can keep the entire selling price and don't have to share with distributers.

Or authors

[Ulysses G.]

Think about it. They don't gave to pay for paper or distribution and they do not have to give a cut to bookstores or middlemen. No wonder they are spending so much money giving these things the hard sell.

[anonymouse]

Maybe I'm a cheap charlie but I buy the majority of my books either secondhand in Thailand or when I'm in the UK from charity shops or carboot sales, I'll browse in bookshops in the UK and if I find something I really like I'll probably buy it on Amazon.

Browsing bookstores or buying secondhand will be two options that will be gone if ebooks take over.

Much like the rise of free downloadable music on the internet has killed off the record shop, I think the ebook will leach the enjoyment out of buying a book.

My children have been avid book lovers since an early age, intitally attracted by the pretty pictures but now starting to read, I can't see a kindle machine fostering an interest in reading for young children either.

Long live the paper book!!!

[cdnvic]

Overpriced CDs and outdated thinking killed record stores. CDs cost far less to produce than a cassette, yet the retail price was almost doubled in many cases. People are willing to pay for quality, but not get screwed.

[villagefarang]

All I'm hearing here is a lot of self-interest and fear about loosing business. Typical conspiracy theory stuff that comes from some posters.

[Ulysses G.]

The problem with CDs was the improved sound "quality" was imaginary (and that is no "conspiracy theory") . That was the main selling point and it just wasn't true. The only real improvement over records and tapes was that CDs were slightly more convenient, but they were certainly not worth having to replace all your old music and then pay double price for.

From what I can see, ebooks are just history repeating itself once again.

Edited February 9, 2010 by Ulysses G.

[Ulysses G.]

Typical conspiracy theory stuff that comes from some posters.

When it comes to Big Business, conspiracy theories are more often true than not.

[Ulysses G.]

E-Book Price Increase May Stir Readers’ Passions Sign in to Recommend

By MOTOKO RICH and BRAD STONE

Published: February 10, 2010

In the battle over the pricing of electronic books, publishers appear to have won the first round. The price of many new releases and best sellers is about to go up, to as much as $14.99 from $9.99.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/11/technolo...1reader.html?em

Paranoia strikes deep!