A pound of eBooks

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Over the weekend some comments raised good points about longevity of media. It was on a post about Microsoft planning to shut down Xbox Live for the original Xbox gaming console.

This got me thinking that I'd kinda heard these arguments before. Perhaps applied to different systems, maybe even to different technology, but they weren't new.

The discussions always seem to revolve around the technology we use to consume content changes - a modern media process that's been going on for the last 50 year or so.
Before that content delivery systems and media were a bit more stable.

Some examples of media delivery systems that're morphing, evolving, or being pushed to extinction:

Newspapers - stable for hundreds of years, and now being seriously challenged by new news and media consumption technologies (Web, eBook readers, RSS). We used to 'Read the Paper'. Now we read a digital copy of one that we delete instead of discard.
Magazines - once very broad in scope (Readers Digest, Macleans) in the '80s and '90s became much more niche, increasing the number of magazine titles available. Now they too are being challenged by similar tech that is hurting Newspapers.
Music - once the domain of broadcast radio and LP distribution through record stores. The CD obsoleted the Record Player for mass media consumption. We repurchased or pirated our media in the new format, and the old one is a memory.
Video - a late entry into the market. Once, you could only watch what the broadcaster sent over the air or down the cable. Videotape systems changed that, introducing timeshifting and commercial skipping. It also introduced the ability to buy your own personal copy of a favourite movie, similar to the way you could buy a record or CD. Videotape consequently was supplanted by DVD and digital storage -- again we repurchased or pirated our video collection to continue to enjoy the movies we'd come to appreciate having at our fingertips.
And of course, Video Games have been evolving and changing as the platform they're designed for became obslete a few short years after it was born. Likely the shortest lifespan of the tech and processes discussed here.

But one thing throughout this process of change is constant; for the media organizations to succeed, they have to embrace the new technology and new processes while shepharding the old one out slowly. I wrote about this a few years ago, and for the most part, things still seem to be ticking along in this cycle.

Why is this important to you?
Guaranteed -- whatever media you consume, the format will change and you'll have to be prepared to change with it. As a consumer of media, you will soon no longer be buying movies at the video store, or books at the book store. Apple alone will have a solid little media mall in iTunes offering Video (movies & TV shows), Podcasts and Music, Magazines and eBooks (through iBooks), and iPhone games through iTunes Apps.

Mainstream PC and console video games are now distributed using a digital distribution system; think Rock Band's add on tracks, or Dragon Age: Origin's Downloadable Content. Heck, there are whole distribution networks built around getting games to you without going through a middleman (Steam, Apple's iTunes Apps store).

Prepare to replace or archive
So, the sad fact is, the content you bought lives digitally on the device that you currently use to play it. When the Wii is obsolete, all those Nintendo Library games (Donkey Kong, Super Mario World, etc) will be playable only as long as you can keep your console running and the games on media -- you'll have created a hardware and content archive. And be considered a media-phile.

Odds are, you'll have moved on by then. But if, some day, you did want to play Donkey Kong again, you'd have to buy the game (again) in a new format for the new platform. And odds are, many of us would...for good games.

Does the same hold true for books, music, video? I think so. I have eBook versions of good novels I've bought. I've replaced Aliens three times now as I've changed video formats. I know I'm considering upgrading my DVD of Band of Brothers to the Blu-Ray set when it's available, if the whole value proposition is worth it (price, better quality, new features).

I'm curious, what do you do. Do you evolve your content or replace it?

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Comments

by on

I understand the point you're making, Brad, and agree with you for the most part. For me I think the most telling example is the music. However, I don't agree that your analysis extends a priori to ebooks.

Firstly, some types of media are more platform-dependent than others. Most books, being just text, do not depend on their format. Games, on the other hand, depend on the capabilities of the console running them. It isn't as easy to change platforms for games--we see this in the varying levels of quality within a single game depending on the platform one uses. Porting a game from one platform to another is more akin to translating a book from one language to another than it is to changing a book's format; the software developer has to make subjective calls over how to adapt the game to the new platform.

Secondly, we are in pretty good shape when it comes to file formats for books. Most file formats are based on open standards, usually HTML or XML--even the proprietary ones. As Calibre demonstrates, automatically converting among these formats is doable if not always perfect. The only major hindrance is DRM, but as the pirates demonstrate, that isn't always a problem. Thus, unlike music or video, where there may indeed be a loss of quality when trying to convert among formats, provided your conversion process is good enough, your ebook files are flexible enough to withstand the various format wars.

But wait! It sounds like I'm siding with (competitor) and the like, those companies who insist on slapping DRM on their files even though it's tantamount to forcing you to buy the book again if you switch devices. If it's so easy to break DRM and convert to another format, then it seems my ire has been misdirected, no? While it's true that, in practice, circumventing proprietary restrictions isn't as hard as one might think, there's a few problems. Firstly, DRM in principle is wrong, and thus it should be opposed. Secondly, as long as circumventing DRM is illegal (and, if certain parties get their way in Canada, it will be subject to some hefty fines!), it makes consumers choose to become criminals in order to liberate what they've purchased (or "licensed" as (competitor) reminds us in the fine print).

It's a good idea to remain aware of the vagaries of format obsolescence, as you so rightly point out, Brad. Yet with ebooks, this obsolescence is an artifact of the market, not the medium. Hence, while I still won't buy a Kindle because I could lose my ebooks purchases from the Kindle store if I jump the (competitor) ship, it's due to an intentional, legally-enforced restriction put in place by a company, not a technical limitation. I could break the DRM, but legally I shouldn't, and in my opinion, I shouldn't have to. This distinction is an important one to make, as it educates the consumer when he or she chooses to adopt a device or format.

Whoops! I meant to get back to this comment earlier in the week!

Points one and two are right on. Text and books are much less platform dependant than more modern types of media. Thanks for extending my line of thought - and clairifying it too!

I think the overarching point I was trying to make, and hopefully made, was that publishers -- people who have a vested interest in sellling as many copies of some sort of media -- will always want to manage profitable distribution of their content. Currently that looks like DRM tied to a media platoform (with some exceptions like the Baen Free Library).

Consumers, on the other hand, want to buy once, consume anywhere - and that's the big challenge; two different perspectives on the same content-consumer ecosystem. It's going to be interesting to watch this shake down.