Digital piracy hits the e-book industry - CNN.com

Another industry starting to feel it.

It's kind of callous, I know, but the more other parallel industries like this (book, textbook, movie, games, software) hurt, the more likely something is to be done about it. In that respect, it's actually good for all of us.

Absolutely!

This IS going to affect everybody. The thing we all need to think about is how we can prevent the inevitable solution from turning into a monopoly.

Propaganda.

And to Mr. Olhsson, there isn't a REAL problem, so if people are smart and realize this, they won't let some corporation feed us a "solution" (which will most likely only benefit them).

Come on guys, you're smarter than this.

Just curious: how do you figure?

How much do you know about the publishing industry?

I'm more interested in...

1) How many people think piracy can ever actually be stopped.
2) How many people who aren't reliant on these various industries think the cheapening/making free of media is actually good for society as a whole.

Repeat after me:

If I don't pay the singer, he ain't gonna sing nomore.

The rationalizations for greed are endless. These folks also tend to project their own greed on anybody they want to exploit. It's a "rip them off before they rip me off" consciousness.

ISPs will be regulated, punishments will be severe enough to have people thinking twice - like stealing car - it happens, but it's the monitory (who no law would stop) not the majority. this is where we're are going soon.

probably everyone not reliant on whatever it is, will think it's a great idea to get that thing for free (hell - it doesn't effect me, except I get something for free that I used to have to pay for).

That would be a TERRIBLE thing and i hope you are wise enough to know that. And even if that happens, when THIS generation finally finds their way into congress, that will change. The people in Washington are obviously very out of touch with the public if this could happen.

To answer your second question - i work with someone often that wrote a best selling book and has also written some popular e-books (both free and paid...well..he got paid for all of them but i mean some were free to download and some you had to pay for). These issues are not that different than those that the music industry is going through.

And to answer your first question - more opportunity! The only people hurting right now are those that relied on the old dead business model. That's why they are releasing these manipulative press releases and false arguments..they are trying to protect their cash cows. These middle men are no longer necessary and in most cases artists and writers are making more money than ever in this climate (there are tons of figures to back this up).

Check out Seth Godin as an example. He gives many of his books away for free as e-books and then they still go to the best seller's list on amazon. NIN gave their album away for free and they still sold $775,000 worth of box sets in 24 hours (or whatever short period of time it was).

You connect with your fan base and give them a reason to buy. It's very simple. It's liberating, actually.

actually I'm wise enough to know it's a great thing. restoration of balance.

unlikely - anyone mature enough to make it to congress would not be foolish enough to piss off the interest of all the industries invested in copyrighted digital works - film, music, software, books, television, videogames, etc.

to the contrary, they were out of touch and not they're finally catching up.

I think it's great to restore control over copyright - I'm looking forward to the changes, and not a moment to soon.

good riddance to the thieves and freeloaders!

I'm friends with lots of artists. I don't know of any who have quit or will quit because they aren't going to become the next Nickelback.

how much are you selling? how's it workin out for you?

Don't you see point 1 and point 2 as incongruous? How will the majority support severe criminal penalties for downloading a Miley Cyrus song when the majority feels that they're getting something for free that they used to have to pay for?

right... different conversation, music without financial incentive:
SoundClick - Free MP3 music download and much, much more.

no nickleback there for sure... although, that may not be a bad thing

Don't we have a two year bet or something? I get that SoundClick is a horrible site with horrible music, but go check out myspace.com if you want to hear some good free music.

Musicians are making MORE money now. Study after study is showing this...and in a recession.

Any you want to restore "balance" to whom?

Sorry, i know who i side with.

the film industry is thriving.

kindle is going crazy.

musicians are making more money than ever.

you don't have much of an argument here except for the fact that the people that relied on the old ways of doing things are hurting.

Haven't read all the responses, but have been wondering about a solution.

What I'm wondering is if there is a way to funnel money from ISP's to content owners.

Clearly, one part of the issue is that folks want to pay one price and access "The Internet". So by somehow folding a blanket price into access, maybe that could be achieved? Perhaps in graded levels. I.e folks who don't download, can come in at a lower tier?

Anyway, haven't thought out all the issues, just trying to think if there's a way everyone can get paid while allowing for a simple access fee structure.

Just curious, what is the source of this statement?

Also curious... which musicians are making more than ever? Through what business model?

Or is this some aggregate figure like, "the gross income of all musicians has increased"?

In my admittedly anecdotal view from over here on the left coast, seems to me the names that were big from "the golden age", so to speak are who are still bringing in the audiences. Always amazes me how many of the "old names" are playing in the L.A. area every month.

in the usa we live a republic, not a democracy.

majority doesn't rule.

civil rights.

this is you, right?
how much you making off all of this?
educate me.

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The film industry is not thriving. They are releasing fewer and fewer movies each year. They are surviving off the profits of the rarer and rarer individual blockbusters like Avatar, while most other films are failing. Same thing happened to the music industry in the early piracy days. Overall profits remained okay for many years, but only because they contracted, stopped taking risks, and only placed their money on the sure bets (stuff like Nickelback and Miley). Loss of options and diversity is not good for anyone.

I would also like to see figures showing that musicians make more money. Which musicians? How?

Kindle sales have nothing to do with e-Book sales. iPod/iPhone sales are great as well.

Everyone except those that profit from the facilitation of piracy (ISPs, iPods/iPhones, Kindles) is hurting.

box office grosses only, which are a loss leader, home video sales (where the return on investment is made) are down, dramatically.

we're just seeing the tip of the iceberg there as witnessed by this thread.

really? which ones? you selectively picking a couple? what criteria are you using for this statement?

show me the new way where people are actually making more money in the new economics than old... in a broad sense, not one or two exceptions to the rule, but as a sustainable method for making a living... I'm not seeing it but I'm open minded...

Sorry to repeat myself, but I just posted this in another thread.

Piracy is impossible to stop completely. But that is no one's objective. It fully reducable via ISP's providing throttling and/or disconnection disincentives to repeat offenders.

As far as detecting repeat illegal file sharers goes, this is not difficult either. Monitoring open connections is all that is required. If someone connects to Limewire or BitTorrent, and in doing so, makes their IP and the files they are sharing public information, they have done so by their own choice.

Since that's how open p2p networks like Limewire and BitTorrent work, they are incredibly easy to monitor the traffic of. No 'Big Brother remote invasion' of peoples' PC's is needed. You don't even have to monitor their non-p2p traffic in any way to accomplish this.

The only methods that have been proposed to produce closed or anonymous networks are:

1) Centralized proxy/VPN services - Since these are centralized, there is no reason they should be exempt from regulation or allowed to perpetuate illegal activity. Many already log or perform data-analysis of activity on their networks.

2) Round-robin, Freenet-type network architectures - While these do offer as close to true anonymity as is technologically possible, they do so at a massive cost to speed and file availability. They also tend to harbor (and turn your computer into a distribution node for) some pretty disgusting types of criminal files (no I'm not talking about copyright here), which the public will never, ever accept.

So I'm not sure if people out there actually believe copyright is unenforcable, or they just want others to believe it so piracy can continue unabated. Either way, the reality is somewhat different.

Agreed, technically, piracy can be controlled.

Unfortunately, I think many people, perhaps because radio is "free" feel that downloading a tune that's not on physical medium like vinyl or a CD, isn't wrong, or at the least a minor thing.

What I'm thinking out loud about is, "Is there some way to make the price of an internet connection the complete price for all access"? Thereby appeasing the users... and yet getting money back to the content producers.

Then nobody has to pirate, and everyone could get paid?

I mean seriously, if I had the talent, I would hate trying to become a successful commercial musician these days. I mean c'mon, who recently, is as big as say Led Zeppelin or can ever get as wealthy under the current paradigm?

Call me materialistic, but one of the draws of being a "rock star" is the "fabulous" wealth, right?

The old business model allowed a small number of these super bands to occur. On the other hand the new way allows just about anyone to post a track, but even fewer it would seem hit the "super" level.

Anyway, guess what I'm say is that for me, part of the attraction of a career in music or entertainment *is* the rags to riches story line. And well, if ya can't get paid, ya can't get from rags to riches.

So, I'd like to see a solution that doesn't put artists and audiences at odds with each other.

I'm just not smart enough to figure out what it should be, especially since I'm just a hobbyist at best.

you simply do not know what you are talking about.

A whole new paradigm is needed.

If I buy a physical book and lend it to someone, the person reads it and then doesn't buy it themselves, have I done something illegal?

Now if I get a book digitaly and clone it and then pass that clone on is it that much different from lending a physical product?

The entertainment industry needs a whole new business model but because it refuses to accept that times and technology have changed and evolved it's slowly making itself extinct because of it's own unwillingness to adapt.

I think we need to look at the bigger picture and face the fact that music as form of entertainment is in decline and that decline is irreversable.

Video games will be the dominant entertainment of the 21st century. Technology has moved on and a much greater experience for many people can be had playing WoW, Halo, GTA or Modern Warfare.

Music albums could sell by the truckload in the past because that was the only form entertainment there was. Now there's more serious competition.