Do Companies Using Copy Protection Think Buyers Are Idiots?
from the just-wondering? dept
In something of a followup to this morning's post about bad copy protection comes a rather bizarre example that shows just how little thought providers who use copy protection seem to put into using the technology. It turns out that Princeton University is getting ready to offer students digitized text books complete with heavy-handed copy protection, and it's done in such a way to make it nearly useless. Among the features of the copy protection: the textbook must be read on the computer it was downloaded to, it cannot be burned to a CD or copied anywhere, only small passages can be printed, the textbook expires after five months and the book is not returnable and cannot be resold. The benefit, besides not having to lug around a heavy textbook, is a 33% discount. However, that's not a very compelling offer for a variety of reasons. The biggest, of course, is the inability to resell the textbook. The entire textbook market practically lives off of the resale value of the books. That's why they can be priced so high. Students know they can recoup some of that money at the end. For those who would actually like to keep their books, obviously this deal is completely useless. Then, everything else makes this offering less useful than a traditional textbook. Imagine the student whose computer breaks and their textbooks are gone. Copy protection makes the product much less valuable -- a lot more than the 33% discount the company is providing. And, of course, that 33% discount is a steal for the publisher, who has almost no marginal cost in producing, storing and transporting the book. The entire offering seems premised on the idea that buyers are stupid and won't consider these limitations. Certainly, some won't think it through, but here's hoping that Princeton's students are bit sharper than that. Update: Thanks to Ed Felten for pointing out that this isn't Princeton University, but an independent bookstore serving Princeton University students.
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5 Months
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Re: 5 Months
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people
It's like the whole music/movie industry suing their customers. If people were smart - everyone would just stop buying and renting movies (i.e. boycott them) for a few days. I'm guessing after a week or so of zero revenue, the whole "lets treat our customers like crooks concept" will be reevaluated. It will never happen - people are too stupid to understand that they have all the power (the music industry lives to serve those people - not the other way around).
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Not Princeton
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I'm not stupid.
No way would I buy one of these ebooks. It will take me years to complete my masters as I'm only taking one class per semester, three semesters per year. Why? Well, first off I work full time. Second, I'm not independently wealthy.
There are only two universities in California that offer my masters program, neither close to where I live.
Most of my classes are online. That said, I am not a luddite nor computer illiterate.
But I still would not buy one of these ebooks. For all of the reasons listed.
First, I back up everything. If I can't burn a copy on CD in case of computer crashes, forget it. Second, I have two computers, a laptop and a desktop. If I can't put it on both, forget it. Third, my eyes are 50 years old and I need reading glasses now. Sometimes I need to print out sections and highlight them and make notes. The book is likely in PDF form and you can't copy/paste, highlight or make notes. Fourth, I keep my books not just for the semester but until my degree program is finished. You never know when you need to refer back to a previous textbook. I just used two textbooks from a class two semsters ago for a paper I turned in yesterday.
I don't think it will take even three semesters for the students of Princeton to catch on. Try a few weeks. Once a few students who aren't observant enough to read the fine print *before* they buy download a few of these books and find out exactly what they bought (and didn't buy) word will get out fast. Princeton Press will be revising this policy before the second semester. I'd say about February 2006.
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My experience with eBooks: Superior to real textbo
I vastly preferred the elctronic versions. Why?
1. Portability - I could carry all of my books around with me at all times. Big advantage when you're using a lot of texts per quarter.
2. Value - You must have gone to college at a generous bookstore. Where I went, you'd be lucky to get 15-20% back on the purchase price. With course readers (printed text of excerpted articles), you'd pay as much as $100-120 and course readers were not returnable. Salvage value = $0. Paying 33% less for an eBook was cheaper.
Maybe I'm doing a lot less re-reading of texts, but I've moved about 4 times in the last decade and the number of old college books I've moved with me and re-read is in the dozens. I'm glad I had the eBook alternative.
Would I have preferred no expiration date? Of course! But at 33% off, it was still a better value for me to buy the eBooks rather than the full textbooks.
One last point: Those who prefer dead trees can STILL buy dead trees -- if not from the college bookstore, than from any number of online textbook bookstores (iBook, BigWords, Amazon, etc.). No one is forcing you to lease bytes.
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Looks like it works to me
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reading online
This may work for text books because most text books suck and are never read anyways, but for something important that you want to learn from and reference later, i seriously question that value.
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Re: reading online
And as for not being able to mark up pages, highlight, etc., Acrobat Reader 7.0 format (current version) which is FREE enables you to add unlimited annotations and highlights right on the text. These are searchable, printable, etc. Very well executed.
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Re: reading online
I'm sure some people will prefer to have their textbooks in digital form, but I also always preferred paper.
It's probably semi-illegal, but I finished my computer science degree without having bought any textbooks at all! I copied the stuff I needed using the school library and it's wonderful photo copier...I must have saved a couple of thousand euros by doing that! (plus they make a nice celebratory bonfire when you're finished :p)
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Terminable textbooks
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It seems to me that the reason most publishers do not want to offer ebooks is due to ability to copy data easily (a person who bought could easily resell or share with others) which cuts into their ability to earn a living. I'm quite certain that this challenge will be overcome in some way... given time .... and ebooks will become more popular for many people.
Personally, I would like all my books to be digital AND I don't want an expiration date. I like to read and don't have the room for tons of books. And I hate stacks and stacks of papers and books. JUST MY VOTE.
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anonymous coward?
Maybe I just don't want more junk e-mail?
But, heck... at least it is better than junk snail mail!
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