QUILLBLOG

Is the e-book revolution half-empty or half-full?

Bad news, folks: new technology like the Kindle will enable the greedy, unruly masses to bankrupt the publishing industry as we know it. Glum futurist and TechCrunch editor Michael Arrington sounds the death knell on his blog:

Users may buy a book or two on Kindle, but many users will simply steal the content they want to read. Thanks to Amazon, that’s really easy to do on their slick new device.

Should users do this? No, and we do not encourage this. But will they? I think we all know the answer to that.

Good news, folks: the common decency of book readers, who understand that “[w]ider access to copyright materials and fair remuneration for rightsholders are not mutually exclusive,” will carry us over the shoals of the new digital age. Guardian blogger Penny Grubb keeps the faith:

The digital revolution is no different from any of the other new, unprecedented so-called threats to hit us. Everything’s new the first time it happens. Of course it’s faster, bigger, slicker, more efficient and encompasses the globe in a way we’ve never seen before. That’s the way the world works. It’s called progress. But not everything changes. Most people won’t knowingly break the law and will be happy to pay a fair price for what they use. All they need to know is what to pay for and how to do it. Of course, the how-to-do-it had better fit the falling-off-a-log model of 21st century convenience.