De nyttiga produkterna underprissätts och konsumenterna väntas som dumma får abonnera på medialt tjänste-trams, som länge ansetts vara den moderna civilisationens höjdpunkt - åtminstone hos det nya feltoleranta frälset inom journalistiken.
Tiden går och allt fler tidiga unnehavare av läsplattor konstaterar
bittert att de stora förlagen inte visar minsta tecken på att
sluta prissätta e-böcker på samma nivå som pappersböcker.
Sedelärande historia:
(Gerry Conway, May 15, 2001, at news://news.nuvomedia.com/rocket.ebook):
"About ten years ago, a friend of mine who was a junior partner at an entertainment law firm in Los Angeles told me about a new technology that was going to revolutionize the way consumers enjoyed Hollywood films at home. It was a technology far superior to VHS tape -- it would provide crystal clear, digital imagery on discs the size of CDs. Even better, for the producers, this technology involved a wonderful encryption process that would enable them to control, once and for all, the home distribution of their movies. No longer would they be at the mercy of video rental stores, no longer would they lose sales when people (gasp) traded videos with their friends -- in fact, this technology was so cool, it would prevent people from watching the movies they purchased more than two times unless they bought it again through a simple phone-line transmission system! Yes, this was a technology that was going to change the world! It was everything a content provider could ask for! It was wonderful!
It was DIVVX.
My friend, the junior law partner, spent the better part of ten years working on DIVVX. His law firm became an owner of the DIVVX company; he became its president. From time to time during this era we'd run into each other and he'd wax enthusiastic about the potential of this wonderful technology. I remember saying to him, "Sounds great for the distributor... but what does the customer get out of it? Why would anyone buy a book they could only read once -- a book they couldn't give to a friend when they were finished with it? Exactly who are you going to market this DIVVX thing to?" He would just smile knowingly -- this was a wonderful technology. It was going to change the world.
Well, as you can see by a glance around your local electronics store, DIVVX no longer exists. Never even got off the ground. People saw it for what it was: an attempt to limit their freedom. Nobody wanted it. Nobody. No-body. DIVVX was the biggest technological flop since 8 track stereo and DAT. DVD ate its lunch. It died an ugly and well deserved death. And my friend is back to being a lawyer.
Gemstar REB 1100 and 1200 = DIVVX for eBooks.
Speaking for myself, I'm no longer using my REB; I'm reading everything I can on my Handspring Visor and enjoying it; and I'm contemplating buying a Pocket PC so I can use the MS Reader.
It saddens me, because I was quite an evangelist for the
REB among my friends. So much for that."