The Kindle Monologues

thelibrarianontherun:

I just love how much Amazon is getting crap from all ends right now. Love it. Where were you guys about a year ago when I was standing on my soapbox screaming about ‘em because they were the only e-format that didn’t support EPUBs? The library ebook format of choice?

Now, that’s not an issue anymore - but still. I love that they are taking some heat. MUHAHAHAHAHA! How’s that quote go? If you can’t take the heat, get out of the kitchen?

Yeah. That.

- - - 

I actually think it’s pathetic the way the publishing industry are complaining. This is a group of people who screamed bloody murder about how the likes of Borders, Barnes & Noble and Waterstone’s were detrimental to the industry, as they were forcing smaller stores out of business, and due to their buying power, forcing publishers and distributers to sell ‘em their catalogues with significant discounts.

Then Amazon come along, and pretty much use the same business practice to become the predominant retailer of books in the United States / United Kingdom, and suddenly B&N / Waterstone’s, who less than 20 years ago were viewed as the bastard children of the industry, are now being heralded as the saviour. That they’ve put countless smaller, independent stores out of business, seems to have been forgotten.

That’s before we even begin to address the Net Book Agreement [UK specific policy that relates to the RRP on books.]

Where were you guys about a year ago when I was standing on my soapbox screaming about ‘em because they were the only e-format that didn’t support EPUBs? The library ebook format of choice?

The Kindle reads epub files. And if you aren’t technically minded enough to figure out how, you can convert from .epub to .mobi in about the time it’ll take me to type out this paragraph. I can only assume what you’re talking about are epub files that are wrapped in Adobe Digital Editions DRM?

Which - btw, don’t get me started on. Everyone seems to think Adobe DRM is - well if not great, then the best possible solution. For the simple fact you can buy your eReader from Sony | Barnes & Noble | Kobo and not be “tied-into” a specific ecosystem, as is the perception with the Kindle.

The Elephant in the corner, however, is that this is only accurate as long as all those companies stick to the same method of DRM. If Barnes & Noble decide in a year or two to switch from Adobe to a different provider of DRM - what happens then?

It’s not likely the currently in development 5th Generation Nook will drop support for Adobe Digital editions, but what if they decide to go down “another route” with the sixth generation?

How compatible would that device suddenly be, not only with books that consumers have already purchased with ADE DRM, but also with OverDrive?

It’s not that infeasible either - the emerging business model, when it comes to digital content, is one of getting customers hooked into your ecosystem - look at the other “A” who publishers like to whine about - Apple. You’re not exclusively tied into the Apple / iTunes ecosystem when you buy an iDevice, but most owners of those devices have been shown to rarely venture outside it.

Amazon are doing the same thing - they were the first company to bring out a decent eReader at a price that wasn’t scary¹ and which allowed them to gain market traction. They’ve continued this approach, by continuing to sell their latest generation devices at a low cost² which they can afford to do.

Barnes & Noble / Kobo sell comparable [actually somewhat better, in some circumstances] hardware, but unlike Amazon, not only do they not have the ecosystem behind them, the loss factor is also more of a detriment to their finances.

Which, in the case of B&N means cuts to their brick & mortar operations - valuable selling points for the Nook.

Amazon, meanwhile, continue to be the dominant force in the market - the situation is different in the United States, as the Nook has reclaimed some Amazons marketshare, but over here in the UK, well over 90% of eReaders AND tablets sold over the Christmas period, were Kindles.

Which when you consider the Kindle Touch & Kindle Fire aren’t sold over here, should give you some indication to their dominance.

Lastly, going back to Apple - last time I checked the Apple stock value, the company was valued, at around $415 - $420 billion. Amazon are valued at what? $85 - 90BN?

Waterstone’s and B&N between them are probably worth a little over $1BN

How’s that quote go? If you can’t take the heat, get out of the kitchen?

Do you honestly think Amazon care how they’re perceived by people like Jonathan Franzen, and smaller publishers / librarians? Or that either their business decisions, or their market value, will be in any way influenced by an author who saw thousands of copies of one of his novels, recalled, destroyed, turned to pulp, and then used to produce books by other authors, yet still has the temerity to state that eBooks aren’t as permanent as physical books?

¹By which I’m referring to the third generation Kindle. Yes there were other Kindles before it, and yes, companies like Sony had their own models, but they were either ridiculously clunky to operate, looked like horrible prototype tablets from the 1990s, or were ridiculously expensive.

²A lot of people claim they sell the e-Ink Kindles at a loss - personally, I’m inclined to disagree, as the cost analysis reports rarely take into consideration the buying power Amazon has, given the quantities by which they order each component.

The Kindle Fire, however, is likely sold at a small loss.