Piracy

In Sunday's New York Times, Randall Stross wrote an article in the Business Section about issues of piracy and e-books. In it, he claimed that RapidShare, an online file sharing service, is primed to become what Nabster was to the music industry. There is no doubt that, even with Apple Store, the profit margin in the music industry has declined substantially, but I'm curious as to whether the same market of consumers will be gravitating towards e-books. 

Even in digital form, books seem less ephemeral than music, something that people like to hold onto. In all of the debate surrounding online readers, protractors often claim that the gravitas associated with books will be lost. I think they are missing the point: the form will affect the function of the content, but it will not (the length and complexity of books will prohibit this) turn novels, histories, and bibliographies into pop tunes with hooks that become over exposed in a few weeks time. 

Further, unlike the often flashy lifestyles of music celebrities who flaunt their wealth in their lyrics and for the paparazzi, I doubt few are under the impression that writers are a very wealthy group. Most people who download music for free justify their action by proclaiming that the musician has money to spare. In contrast, even the most successful author (J.K. Rowling) lives a relatively quiet existence. 

Certainly, the academic publishing industry has some cause to worry: students and professors are a notoriously frugal bunch, but I think that most of us will willingly shell out under ten dollars (still less than one pays at Costco for a best seller) for a book that wasn't written, performed, produced, and marketed by individuals for a large conglomerate.