The failure of capitalism
Jan. 15th, 2012 08:50 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
jackI have an ereader. I had some problems with the battery, so have mostly used it just to read the books Liv pre-loaded last year.
Today, I started looking for a book I wanted to read, that was only available in hardback. Last time I looked, it had just come out, and there were some e-book editions, but I waited to see if it would come out in paperback, but it didn't. In fact, I'd quite like this is e-book, since I mostly want to read it once, and would rather not clutter my shelves.
So, today, I googled. Depressingly, the first two pages of google were (a) amazon (b) reviews (c) (presumably) illegal copies.
In order to install an illegal copy you have to:
* Click a random google hit
* Unzip the file
* Copy it to your USB device using windows explorer
That takes about 2 minutes tops, including installing 7zip.
In order to get a legal copy you have to either:
* Throw away your ereader
* Buy a kindle
* Buy the kindle edition
* Pray like hell amazon don't decide they'll make more money if they "accidentally" delete the file from your device afterwards.
Or:
* Install the ebook library software to get the device driver
* Look on the manufacturer's website for the software
* Google for a link to the software, along with a wiki guide
* Install the software
* Ignore all the software except for the device driver
* Install some _different_ software that sucks less
* Check the wiki to see which ebook formats work on your device
* Register your computer with the manufacturer
* Register your device with the manufacturer
* Try large bookstores looking for a non-kindle edition of the book
* Try googling "'book title' epub"
* Think
* Give up, and go and rant on dreamwidth.
I mean seriously. I already HAVE the book. Right here, on my ereader, ready to read, in pdf, epub and mobi. All I want to do is GIVE SOMEONE MONEY before I read it. I have FREE MONEY here for any capitalist that wants it. All you have to do is call yourself a publisher and give half of the money to John Scalzi. You don't even have to DO anything. At all. FREE MONEY.
But no. I mean, the publishers may be correct that keeping a stranglehold on the market makes them more money than giving people what they want (I hope they aren't, but I don't know for sure). But when I say capitalism has failed, I mean people make more money by colluding in a monopoly than by providing a service.
I mean, ok, some of those steps I only have to do once. But seriously, it's an ebook. It was on sale a year ago. It can't be out of print, can it? If the DRM means that (a) it's free, zero-hassle, simple and immediate to download an illegal copy and (b) it takes an hour of faff to try to find a legal copy, at which time you have to give up, buy a hardback edition second hand at twice the price of the ebook (which makes you NO MONEY because all the physical editions have ALREADY BEEN SOLD) and throw it away, I think you have something backwards. Are you SURE all your customers are going to donate an hour of their time in order to pay MORE for something and STILL waste all the natural resources of a paper copy? Really sure? If they're THAT fricking honest, why do you need DRM at all?
ETA: Practical advice on buying ebooks is also appreciated. Likely I was just unlucky and didn't know of a well-stocked e-store? (I hope?) Probably the thing to do is to order a DIFFERENT book by the same author that I can get in paperback, and donate it if I don't like it.
ETA: In happier news, there definitely is a big thrill to being able to buy something and then have it immediately (a) available to read and (b) not taking up any room. There's a sense of release in being able to :)
ETA: I went looking for another book by Scalzi I was happy to have, and ended up finding two MORE free ebooks by him (this time legitimately). I was scared of entering an infinite recursion of looking for something to buy. In the end, one of them asked for a donation to a particular charity, so I made a slightly larger donation there and called it quits. *shrug* I tried.
Today, I started looking for a book I wanted to read, that was only available in hardback. Last time I looked, it had just come out, and there were some e-book editions, but I waited to see if it would come out in paperback, but it didn't. In fact, I'd quite like this is e-book, since I mostly want to read it once, and would rather not clutter my shelves.
So, today, I googled. Depressingly, the first two pages of google were (a) amazon (b) reviews (c) (presumably) illegal copies.
In order to install an illegal copy you have to:
* Click a random google hit
* Unzip the file
* Copy it to your USB device using windows explorer
That takes about 2 minutes tops, including installing 7zip.
In order to get a legal copy you have to either:
* Throw away your ereader
* Buy a kindle
* Buy the kindle edition
* Pray like hell amazon don't decide they'll make more money if they "accidentally" delete the file from your device afterwards.
Or:
* Install the ebook library software to get the device driver
* Look on the manufacturer's website for the software
* Google for a link to the software, along with a wiki guide
* Install the software
* Ignore all the software except for the device driver
* Install some _different_ software that sucks less
* Check the wiki to see which ebook formats work on your device
* Register your computer with the manufacturer
* Register your device with the manufacturer
* Try large bookstores looking for a non-kindle edition of the book
* Try googling "'book title' epub"
* Think
* Give up, and go and rant on dreamwidth.
I mean seriously. I already HAVE the book. Right here, on my ereader, ready to read, in pdf, epub and mobi. All I want to do is GIVE SOMEONE MONEY before I read it. I have FREE MONEY here for any capitalist that wants it. All you have to do is call yourself a publisher and give half of the money to John Scalzi. You don't even have to DO anything. At all. FREE MONEY.
But no. I mean, the publishers may be correct that keeping a stranglehold on the market makes them more money than giving people what they want (I hope they aren't, but I don't know for sure). But when I say capitalism has failed, I mean people make more money by colluding in a monopoly than by providing a service.
I mean, ok, some of those steps I only have to do once. But seriously, it's an ebook. It was on sale a year ago. It can't be out of print, can it? If the DRM means that (a) it's free, zero-hassle, simple and immediate to download an illegal copy and (b) it takes an hour of faff to try to find a legal copy, at which time you have to give up, buy a hardback edition second hand at twice the price of the ebook (which makes you NO MONEY because all the physical editions have ALREADY BEEN SOLD) and throw it away, I think you have something backwards. Are you SURE all your customers are going to donate an hour of their time in order to pay MORE for something and STILL waste all the natural resources of a paper copy? Really sure? If they're THAT fricking honest, why do you need DRM at all?
ETA: Practical advice on buying ebooks is also appreciated. Likely I was just unlucky and didn't know of a well-stocked e-store? (I hope?) Probably the thing to do is to order a DIFFERENT book by the same author that I can get in paperback, and donate it if I don't like it.
ETA: In happier news, there definitely is a big thrill to being able to buy something and then have it immediately (a) available to read and (b) not taking up any room. There's a sense of release in being able to :)
ETA: I went looking for another book by Scalzi I was happy to have, and ended up finding two MORE free ebooks by him (this time legitimately). I was scared of entering an infinite recursion of looking for something to buy. In the end, one of them asked for a donation to a particular charity, so I made a slightly larger donation there and called it quits. *shrug* I tried.
no subject
Date: 2012-01-16 09:30 am (UTC)Also once you have found an ebook store or two then you spend less time searching for new ones.
However publishers sometimes agree to sell exclusive ebook rights (probably not called quite that in legal terms) to amazon - so it IS possible for their to exist an ebook but for it only to be available via the kindle store.
You *can* buy kindle books without a kindle (kindle-for-PC or iPhone or etc etc etc takes them); so in theory you could buy the kindle version (sending the money via the expected legitimate channels) and then either strip the DRM yourself or go download a copy someone else has done that to to put on your not-kindle.
(no subject)
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