Archive for September 26th, 2007

Way back in the day I remember making my radio “kiss” my cassette player to record a song.  Never matter all the background sounds and me going “shhh” to people around me.  All that mattered is that I had my song until I had enough money to get the 45.  I was about 11 years old then and a 45 cost 39 cents.  The thing is that no one from the record company police squad came knocking at my door and I did eventually buy the record. Then when the double cassette player/recorders came out, my friends and I would make each other mixed tapes. I would even tape my records so that I could listen on the go. By this time over half of the songs on the album sucked anyway and albums were about $10.  Again, no police squads or nasty letters from lawyers.  So now I wonder what happened.  Maybe we were breaking the law and I was blissfully unaware.  Or is it that the quality of recording is better and sharing them has gone world-wide? Or have we become more dishonest? Well at least record companies are coming around that DRM just doesn’t work.  All it does is keep honest people honest and limits the use of a purchase; that eventually it decreases sales.  It’s a smart move to start selling DRM-less music. So what about e-books?  Sooner than later (I hope sooner) publishers will take a page out of the music industry’s book and give us a chance to buy bestsellers without being tied to a format or device. I could go along with a password, just as long as it is not my credit card number.  While they are at it, if they can resist the need for greed, lower the price. When I download an e-book, I am doing all the work and I have to store it too on a costly device.  I have no physical product.  I can’t resell it, share it, or donate it. Would I give away copies of a book that I paid $15 for on the net?  No.  But I would like to give it to my daughter after I have finished with it.  No a copy, but the actual file just like I would with a paper book.  E-books need to be more people friendly.  That means easy to download, easy to navigate, and search. In order to give up having a physical book, there has to be some sort of advantage for the user, like larger type, or some bonus content that isn’t included in the paper version.  Since most devices include audio capabilities, maybe a short story or epilogue read by the author could be included.  What do you think would make e-books more attractive?