Assuming you're right, that will still wreck the business of physical books.
Aemon Send a noteboard - 21/04/2011 06:47:45 PM
How many books do you buy for yourself each year? How many do you give away as gifts? What do you suppose the ratio of personal books purchased / books given as gifts is for the average person? I have no statistics to offer as proof, but I strongly suspect that the sales generated from the small percentage of books bought as gifts could not support physical bookstores. I'd be surprised if it could support the traditional publishing business at all, what with its mass printings and inventory distribution.
Don't get me wrong, I'm sure there will always be a way to get hold of physical books, but shadow's comments about "nail in the coffin" and "blow to the dominance of physical books" seem pretty accurate. Open to semantic interpretation, of course, but accurate overall.
Don't get me wrong, I'm sure there will always be a way to get hold of physical books, but shadow's comments about "nail in the coffin" and "blow to the dominance of physical books" seem pretty accurate. Open to semantic interpretation, of course, but accurate overall.
Amazon to Launch Library Lending for Kindle Books
20/04/2011 03:18:34 PM
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Excellent news!
20/04/2011 06:58:09 PM
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Paper books will not die for quite some time I'm sure.
20/04/2011 07:44:39 PM
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I guess it depends on what you mean by "death."
21/04/2011 05:04:40 PM
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Of course an online bookshop is going to sell more e-books than physical books.
21/04/2011 06:14:51 PM
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That's exactly right.
21/04/2011 06:34:28 PM
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I'm talking about the "Amazon sold more e-books than physical books in 2010" argument.
21/04/2011 06:39:45 PM
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Amazon being so successful at controlling the ebook medium makes me uneasy.
20/04/2011 07:13:02 PM
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Also: Terrible news. Another nail in the coffin of physical books. *NM*
20/04/2011 07:13:32 PM
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Not so much. *NM*
20/04/2011 07:39:17 PM
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A bit too melodramatic? Another blow to the desirable dominance of physical books, then. *NM*
20/04/2011 10:24:20 PM
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No. I just don't think this spells the end of physical books at all.
21/04/2011 06:11:53 PM
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Assuming you're right, that will still wreck the business of physical books.
21/04/2011 06:47:45 PM
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I take perverse pleasure in watching the decline of physical books.
21/04/2011 05:45:59 PM
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You are right, of course. But all the rationalizing in the world doesn't make me happy about it.
21/04/2011 05:57:12 PM
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Re: Amazon being so successful at controlling the ebook medium makes me uneasy.
20/04/2011 07:41:00 PM
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I'm not sure I understand how this works...
20/04/2011 07:30:51 PM
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Re: I'm not sure I understand how this works...
20/04/2011 07:43:19 PM
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You download them from the Internet using your library card as an ID. *NM*
21/04/2011 01:07:54 AM
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What Ghavrel said, but...
21/04/2011 03:14:07 AM
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Obviously none of you have used Overdrive. It's horrifically bad.
21/04/2011 01:07:14 AM
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Never heard of it. *NM*
21/04/2011 01:08:00 AM
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It's an already existing library ebook service, and it's terrible. *NM*
21/04/2011 02:19:25 AM
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What makes it terrible? *NM*
21/04/2011 02:20:12 AM
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The selection is awful, the interface is awkward, and it requires bizarre DRM installations.
21/04/2011 02:40:55 AM
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To be fair, Overdrive's problems are software issues, and not inherent to the business model.
21/04/2011 05:23:54 PM
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I definitely agree; I'm just irritated they're sticking with Overdrive. Ebook libraries make sense. *NM*
21/04/2011 07:14:38 PM
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Will a borrowed Kindle book have "fuck" underlined when it appears?
22/04/2011 01:59:39 AM
- 961 Views