Shit, I thought $5.99 was fucking outrageous for an ebook. $50 - $75 for a single use book for a single user???? WTF??? 65% gross margin???? Captive consumer base? WOW, just wow. The only question I have is why the gross margin on etextbooks is so low. There must be a lot of hands in the pot.
There is absolutely NO rational argument that can be made to convince textbook publishers to give up that business model. The publishers are going to milk that cash cow until the internet routes around the damage.
Shit, I thought $5.99 was fucking outrageous for an ebook. $50 - $75 for a single use book for a single user???? WTF??? 65% gross margin???? Captive consumer base? WOW, just wow. The only question I have is why the gross margin on etextbooks is so low. There must be a lot of hands in the pot.
There is absolutely NO rational argument that can be made to convince textbook publishers to give up that business model. The publishers are going to milk that cash cow until the internet routes around the damage.
I've said it over and over. The largest terrorist organization which directly targets the United States is the KKK. The NYPD is looking in the wrong place for terrorists.
"Is it that different if Facebook's system tagged me or if Joe tags me?"
I'm not sure how you can ask this question with a straight face.
Of course it's different if a human who knows you tags you in a photo vs an automated system. The human who is tagging you is doing it for a specific reason, it's a social behavior between acquaintances/friends. I'm not saying there is anything wrong with the automated system doing it as well, but there is definitely a huge difference.
Suffice to say that there are some groups of friends that don't tag photos because they don't need to, as in everyone in the group knows each other. There may be many cases out there where people simply don't want to be tagged automatically in a photo.
I'm picturing an episode of the Marx Bros. or the Three Stooges, as the FBI is on the phone with the MPAA asking for the "evidence" and in the background the legal staff of the MPAA and RIAA is putting together charts and tons of "research" that shows piracy is ruining grocery stores.
This should actually be scaring Disney. A 6 year old doesn't care who made his/her cartoon, he/she just wants to watch it over and over. While I may be grown up and have some affinity toward the classic Disney characters, it's because I was exposed to them in my youth.
If Disney opts out of streaming and the kids never get to see those films, because they don't know to look for them on their own, then Disney may be pissing away an entire generation of fans. Good luck with that.
Facebook is an amazing testbed for this type of research. Personally I am aware of a game called Superhero City which is free to play, but charges for buffs.
After playing the game for a while, I was more than shocked to find there were multiple players that had spent in excess of $5000 on the game. There are even more players that spend $1000 per year or more and ever more that spend several hundred dollars per year on a freemium model.
Besides players spending money on the game itself there are many advertisers that subsidize the buffs that players acquire. So if a play buys a product or service from those advertisers they receive game bonuses.
On a related note, Marvel tried to compete with Superhero City, but was crushed because their copy attempt resembled Mafia Wars and really wasn't all that interesting. Interestingly they went back to the drawing board and COPIED some of the best elements of their competitor and then INNOVATED new features for their game and amazingly were able to regain many of their competitor's fans.
Note how that worked? They didn't sue a successful business that was making money off their market. They learned from their mistake and innovated back into their market.
"When will they learn to stop negotiating treaties that only benefit big business in secret?"
You are asking big corporations and government bureaucracies which have only done these things in secret, to adapt to a new reality which they don't even want to acknowledge exists.
Prior to the digital revolution, transparency was just a cool buzzword. Now that there are tools to disseminate information instantly and globally to all interested parties, the reality of transparency has arrived and bureaucracies still want to imagine that telling a few select people or groups is the same thing.
When will things be done in the open? When the older generation dies out as the newer generation replaces them.
In 1990, Kodak was worth $7 billion. Cameras used film. Photographers needed film, and lots of it, then digital photography came along; but the tech was new and the quality was low and Kodak saw it as a novelty niche. There was no real threat from digital media. $7 billion is a lot of money and the company employs a lot of people.
Currently Kodak is worth -$1.7 billion and it's largest source of revenue was through the licensing of its patents to companies that actually leveraged the digital revolution.
Lesson: If you do not adapt to the change in technology, there is little hope of surviving in the market.
In related news, Apple has teamed up with Intellectual Ventures to bid on Kodak's patents (ewwww).
The cable companies really don't care about the cord-cutters or the cord nevers because they are focused on revenue. Subscription TV is still hugely profitable for the foreseeable future, so they won't bother to react to disruption until the game has completely changed.
Let's not forget that the cable companies in the US control a huge share of the broadband market. So even if they lost the pay TV market, they will just squeeze more from their pipes. They will just continue to claim there is a bandwidth shortage and ratchet up the metering on the pipes until that market is disrupted (Google, anyone?.
On the post: Animation Instructor Fights Unnecessary Textbook Purchases And Gets Fired For His Trouble
WoW
There is absolutely NO rational argument that can be made to convince textbook publishers to give up that business model. The publishers are going to milk that cash cow until the internet routes around the damage.
On the post: Animation Instructor Fights Unnecessary Textbook Purchases And Gets Fired For His Trouble
WoW
There is absolutely NO rational argument that can be made to convince textbook publishers to give up that business model. The publishers are going to milk that cash cow until the internet routes around the damage.
On the post: NYPD Spent Years Spying On Muslims, Generated Exactly Zero Leads
Duh!
On the post: eBay Banishes Demons, Djinns, Work-From-Home Schemes And Other Hellspawn
RIAA dispute
First it was listed as DCMA then as DRM then HADOPI then ACTA then SOPA/PIPA then TPP.
On the post: Germany Tells Facebook To Destroy Face Recognition Database
Huh???
I'm not sure how you can ask this question with a straight face.
Of course it's different if a human who knows you tags you in a photo vs an automated system. The human who is tagging you is doing it for a specific reason, it's a social behavior between acquaintances/friends. I'm not saying there is anything wrong with the automated system doing it as well, but there is definitely a huge difference.
Suffice to say that there are some groups of friends that don't tag photos because they don't need to, as in everyone in the group knows each other. There may be many cases out there where people simply don't want to be tagged automatically in a photo.
It may be that this is a generational divide.
On the post: New Zealand High Court: FBI Must Release Its Evidence Against Kim Dotcom
LOL
On the post: Netflix Provides 'Knock-offs' After Contract With Disney Ends
Wow
If Disney opts out of streaming and the kids never get to see those films, because they don't know to look for them on their own, then Disney may be pissing away an entire generation of fans. Good luck with that.
On the post: Shelby County Tries To Reveal The Authors Of Nearly 10,000 Anonymous Internet Comments
Ummmm I'm confused.
On the post: Indian ISP Penalized For 'Overblocking' In Obeying Court Order To Try To Stop Infringement
Yeah but..
On the post: Nathan Myhrvold: It's Ok To Kill Innovation If You're Also Killing Mosquitoes
The reason IV doesn't bring any product to market
Because IV is a trolling NPE, there is no fear of mutual destruction when deciding to troll them.
On the post: In A Strange Turn Of Affairs, EA Decides to Recognize Reality Of Game Pricing
Simple case study
After playing the game for a while, I was more than shocked to find there were multiple players that had spent in excess of $5000 on the game. There are even more players that spend $1000 per year or more and ever more that spend several hundred dollars per year on a freemium model.
Besides players spending money on the game itself there are many advertisers that subsidize the buffs that players acquire. So if a play buys a product or service from those advertisers they receive game bonuses.
On a related note, Marvel tried to compete with Superhero City, but was crushed because their copy attempt resembled Mafia Wars and really wasn't all that interesting. Interestingly they went back to the drawing board and COPIED some of the best elements of their competitor and then INNOVATED new features for their game and amazingly were able to regain many of their competitor's fans.
Note how that worked? They didn't sue a successful business that was making money off their market. They learned from their mistake and innovated back into their market.
On the post: India's ACTA: Intellectual Property Rights And Secrecy Stall Treaty
A lot to ask
You are asking big corporations and government bureaucracies which have only done these things in secret, to adapt to a new reality which they don't even want to acknowledge exists.
Prior to the digital revolution, transparency was just a cool buzzword. Now that there are tools to disseminate information instantly and globally to all interested parties, the reality of transparency has arrived and bureaucracies still want to imagine that telling a few select people or groups is the same thing.
When will things be done in the open? When the older generation dies out as the newer generation replaces them.
On the post: Judge Overturns $147.2 Million Jury Award Against RIM
Count on it
On the bright side, we will see tons of innovation in the legal arguments against RIM.
On the post: Execs From Bankrupt Kodak To Make Millions For Giving The Company's Patents To Trolls
Other industries should take note
Currently Kodak is worth -$1.7 billion and it's largest source of revenue was through the licensing of its patents to companies that actually leveraged the digital revolution.
Lesson: If you do not adapt to the change in technology, there is little hope of surviving in the market.
In related news, Apple has teamed up with Intellectual Ventures to bid on Kodak's patents (ewwww).
On the post: Why Are New Zealand Prosecutors Seeking To Suppress All Images & Video Of Megaupload Raid?
It's not really surpressed
OR...
The MPAA is windowing the release and region restricting it as well.
On the post: Over 400,000 Homes Have Cut The Cord So Far This Year... But Cord Cutting Is Still A Myth?
Short sighted profits
Let's not forget that the cable companies in the US control a huge share of the broadband market. So even if they lost the pay TV market, they will just squeeze more from their pipes. They will just continue to claim there is a bandwidth shortage and ratchet up the metering on the pipes until that market is disrupted (Google, anyone?.
On the post: NY Times Picks Up On The Fact That Craigslist Has Become A Legal Bully Against Anyone Who Makes Its Site Better
Craig is just taking your advice
On the post: No, 99% Of All Filmmakers Shouldn't Crowdfund... But An Awful Lot Should Be Testing It Out
The reason TechDirt sucks
They simply do not want all this optimism or capitalism. They want a gate to keep. Mike keeps suggesting fields to harvest. That's too much work.
On the post: The Stats Used To Support Cybercrime 'Threats' Just As Bogus As Hollywood's 'Loss' Claims
How is this possible?
How do you even know how much IP you have lost??? How do you lose intangibles???
Think about that. They estimate they lost $4.6 billion worth of thoughts.
On the post: The Indie Ebook Scene Is Growing: Here's Over 170 Authors Who've Sold More Than 50,000 Copies
Re: Re: Math
This seems to be forcing authors to charge more for their work than they may want to. Price fixing ?
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