03-04-2009, 01:56 PM
I'll probably buy a Kindle 2 this year. I was tempted by the Kindle 1 but decided to wait until the second iteration.
I figure it will either be a cool toy for about 2-3 years and will then be completely irrelevant or e-books and DRM will get sorted out and everyone will have these things.
It certainly wouldn't be the first cool thing I've bought that turned out to be useless 2 years later. My HD-DVD player comes to mind. The fact that newer, cooler versions are coming out doesn't dissuade me that much (I just didn't want to beta test the first line of a new product). If I was always holding off because the next new thing was right around the corner, I'd never be able to buy a computer.
Eventually I think DRM will lose and books will become what music already is: an honor system. Musicians make money off of live performances and whatever percentage of people "donate" to them by voluntarily buying their music rather than spending 5 seconds on Google/PirateBay to find it for free.
Maybe my parents don't know how to find free copies of the music they want, but I bet the vast majority of everyone under the age of 30 knows, so it stands to reason that in the end, DRM will be irrelevant and either you choose to donate money for things you enjoy, or you don't.
I figure it will either be a cool toy for about 2-3 years and will then be completely irrelevant or e-books and DRM will get sorted out and everyone will have these things.
It certainly wouldn't be the first cool thing I've bought that turned out to be useless 2 years later. My HD-DVD player comes to mind. The fact that newer, cooler versions are coming out doesn't dissuade me that much (I just didn't want to beta test the first line of a new product). If I was always holding off because the next new thing was right around the corner, I'd never be able to buy a computer.
Eventually I think DRM will lose and books will become what music already is: an honor system. Musicians make money off of live performances and whatever percentage of people "donate" to them by voluntarily buying their music rather than spending 5 seconds on Google/PirateBay to find it for free.
Maybe my parents don't know how to find free copies of the music they want, but I bet the vast majority of everyone under the age of 30 knows, so it stands to reason that in the end, DRM will be irrelevant and either you choose to donate money for things you enjoy, or you don't.