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Replying To:
Clueless Publishers and Magic Glasses (none / 0) (#1)
by Anonymous User on Thu Feb 19, 2004 at 09:02:01 AM PDT

I find myself deeply puzzled by publishers other than Baen Books, where I'm a fiercely loyal fan and customer.  I buy the "Webscriptions" and, in fact, bought the entire YEARS 2003 and 2004 "blind" before I had any idea what would be coming out in any of those months.  It's been worth it.

I then go to my local independent bookstore and buy the hardcovers and donate those to the Berkeley Public Library, since what I READ are the e-books.

Then I run into other publishers.  One publisher has the books up at www.fictionwise.com, but they're all DigitalRipoffManagement-crippled *and* at (you ready for this) Hardcover prices.  They're still at those prices even after the paperback of the book has come out.  Somebody want to tell me why I should pay hardcover prices for crippled ebooks when I can just scan the treeware?

DRM is what I call "magic glasses," and most publishers insist that you have to use them to read *their* precious content.  I sometimes think that, if Gutenberg had been able to do that with paper books, thee and I woulds't still be awaiting our copies of the Bible from the Scriptorium.



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