They already knew the books and other products you were buying, now knowing which books are "borrowed" is suddenly a huge invasion of privacy? Do you use a credit card? They have the info on all those purchases. Order anything online from any site? And stores know who you are if you use a credit card or even a check. Borrow books and materials from libraries? Really any transaction that discloses identity has the potential for "tracking" although it has been that way for decades.
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Amazon Officially Announces 'Kindle Unlimited' E-book and Audiobook Subscription Service
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They already knew the books and other products you were buying, now knowing which books are "borrowed" is suddenly a huge invasion of privacy? Do you use a credit card? They have the info on all those purchases. Order anything online from any site? And stores know who you are if you use a credit card or even a check. Borrow books and materials from libraries? Really any transaction that discloses identity has the potential for "tracking" although it has been that way for decades.
I pay for my local library yes, but not the other 9,220+ other public libraries in the USA.
If you are confused or concerned about the potential impact of Amazon's new 'Kindle Unlimited' program for eBooks, a full report will be featured in the next issue of Self-Publishers Monthly, expected out August 1. Visit http://www.selfpublishersmonthly.com to preview.
I think the key difference is that Netflix keeps overheads low by only including older films, which have generated 95% (guess) of their total lifetime revenue. This service includes new books too.
I'd also love Apple to do this. Having said that I would still go with Kindle just because Audible is so awesome.
The publishers don't give the libraries much of a break. Books have to be relicensed (library pay publisher again) after being borrowed every so many times by library patrons. It gets expensive, especially in an era when public funding to libraries is getting cut, cut, cut.
Yes, but that goes for hard copies too. Libraries always pay MSRP. However, there already exists an eBook facilitator for libraries, Overdrive. My point is that if libraries sell or scale down some of their less used expensive to maintain, budget draining real estate they will have more money for eBook offerings, which is not the future, its the hear and now. Cities do not need to maintain so many library branches these days as most research can be done online. The era of Micro Fiche and Card Catalogs is just about done.
Problem is the book industry today is where the music industry was 10 years ago.
the current "publisher" is trying really hard to hold onto their exclusivity with authors and maintain the "print" way of distribution. Currently, The publisher controls the entire processes. From distribution, editing, shipping, manufacturing, and even in some cases paper mill production.
its a big industry worth millions, if not billions. And those who have the power now, refuse to let go.
Along comes digital distribution, which dramatically changes the way we can acquire our media. No longer is the publisher itself required for many steps. You don't need as much paper anymore. You don't need as much ink. you don't need the binding, the printing, the cutting. You don't need the trucking to ship, which is also fueling oil and gas industry.
All that you need now to publish is an online service and a deal for distribution along it.
The publishers are scared and just like the music industry did, they're going to fight tooth and nail to hold onto what they already had instead of trying to move forward into today.
Amazon gets it (even if you don't agree with their method). Apple gets it (again, even if you don't agree with their method). These book online retailers all get it. the future is digital. The publisher don't.
This is why we got the Collusion from the big 5. they were afraid to let go. And this is why the authors themselves get hurt in all of this. We worry about how a monthly subscription to books would hurt the author, but we have to ask, how has it hurt the musician? The TV studio? the movie production? All these other industries that grabbed hold and have finally changed to the new age.
its time for book publishers to go the way of the DoDo, or at least fix their industry. More money to the Authors. less for the middleman. Thus allowing the consumer and author to benefit more than some corporate middleman
the current "publisher" is trying really hard to hold onto their exclusivity with authors and maintain the "print" way of distribution. Currently, The publisher controls the entire processes. From distribution, editing, shipping, manufacturing, and even in some cases paper mill production.
its a big industry worth millions, if not billions. And those who have the power now, refuse to let go.
Along comes digital distribution, which dramatically changes the way we can acquire our media. No longer is the publisher itself required for many steps. You don't need as much paper anymore. You don't need as much ink. you don't need the binding, the printing, the cutting. You don't need the trucking to ship, which is also fueling oil and gas industry.
All that you need now to publish is an online service and a deal for distribution along it.
The publishers are scared and just like the music industry did, they're going to fight tooth and nail to hold onto what they already had instead of trying to move forward into today.
Amazon gets it (even if you don't agree with their method). Apple gets it (again, even if you don't agree with their method). These book online retailers all get it. the future is digital. The publisher don't.
This is why we got the Collusion from the big 5. they were afraid to let go. And this is why the authors themselves get hurt in all of this. We worry about how a monthly subscription to books would hurt the author, but we have to ask, how has it hurt the musician? The TV studio? the movie production? All these other industries that grabbed hold and have finally changed to the new age.
its time for book publishers to go the way of the DoDo, or at least fix their industry. More money to the Authors. less for the middleman. Thus allowing the consumer and author to benefit more than some corporate middleman
It's not like hard copies at all. With hard copies they aren't required to buy it again after a certain number of people have checked it out, or after a certain period of time. And with ebooks the library price is often much higher than the consumer price (sometimes in the range of $100). With hard copies, libraries can just buy it like anyone else, but with the DRM in ebooks the publishers can set their own terms. Some ebooks aren't even available to libraries at all.
Buying a hard copy lets the library keep the title as long as they want. With many publishers, ebooks for libraries are more like rentals. I have to say, I love getting ebooks from the library but finding out that titles will likely expire and the library won't necessarily get them again after that makes me uncomfortable.
Your post is a gross oversimplification. There's a degree of publishers wanting to cling to the past, but a major factor is that Amazon is close to a monopoly when it comes to ebooks and they have the power to really hurt publishers and authors.
Immensely. Musicians get virtually nothing from music subscriptions even when there are millions of listens to their work. It's hurting music sales in a big way and replacing it with something that pays orders of magnitude less. Frankly I think it's unsustainable and only a matter of time before musicians increasingly refuse to allow their music to be included in the various streaming services.
The other thing about ebooks that hurts libraries, especially the smaller rural ones, is that an ebook buyer can't donate his old ebooks to the library as can be done with hard copies. Donations to my local library are curated before the annual lawn sale, i.e. hard copies of recent vintage in excellent condition often end up in circulation, and otherwise go into the sale to raise funds that help the library stay open more hours and hold special programs for kids.
I still buy certain types of books in hard copy format specifically so I can give them to the library later. Stuff like Asian or Latin American history or novels, things the library would like to have but are not going to prioritize very high on their wishlists, considering their limited purchasing power. Only problem with that is sometimes I'd rather have the ebook for myself and read it again whenever I want. I'm tempted towards Amazon's subscription gig to see if I can have my cake and eat it too. Get the hard copy, read it, give it to the library, then see if it ever turns up in ebook format on the subscription list.
Right now there are so many things not on that sub list that I dunno how well it would work out for me. God knows how it will work out for the publishers or even for Amazon. Sure, I'd find stuff to read on a sub basis but probably a lot of what I want to read is not going to be made available that way. Meanwhile I grow alarmed over the idea of throwing money into ebooks at my age. It's not like my heirs can rent out my laptop full of them after I croak. But they won't have to rent a dumpster to ditch hard copies
