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What does Jeff Bezos think is going to happen?

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Re: What does Jeff Bezos think is going to happen?

#121

Post by ahf8Aithaex7Nai »

Aarostotle wrote: post #87
ahf8Aithaex7Nai wrote: post #77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's even simpler than that: Genuine rights cannot be transferred. Everything else is just an attempt to somehow determine who is allowed to make money from what. You shouldn’t take this too seriously, and certainly shouldn’t turn it into a fetish. You should treat it like traffic rules: if no one is watching and it’s obvious that no one can get hurt, then you can basically do whatever you want. It’s very important t…

Your argument isn’t simple, it’s word salad. You can easily transfer a right of ownership. You can bake a cake and I can buy it from you; once that happens, it is theft for you to take the cake and eat it. Both of these are expressions of an inalienable right to property.

> Your argument isn’t simple, it’s word salad.

That’s not very nice. I can assure you that I read everything you write here with the same contempt and accuse you of at least the same intellectual dishonesty. I just wouldn’t have put it so bluntly.

If I’m hungry, I’ll just take a piece of your cake and eat it, no matter who it belongs to. Everyone should do that. And if you refuse to share the cake, you should (and will) receive a just punishment for it.

Re: What does Jeff Bezos think is going to happen?

#122

Post by ahf8Aithaex7Nai »

6510 wrote: post #81
ahf8Aithaex7Nai wrote: post #60

Great! You currently have just one other comment pointing out that Bezos is no longer CEO, as if that were a piece of information that would make even the slightest difference in this matter. Unfortunately, my comment isn't any more sympathetic either. These people couldn't care less whether you can continue reading the digital books you've already purchased on your existing device or not. And yet you insist on payin…

It's a fascinating bit of biology to see a species collectively sacrifice its well being for the benefit of one man almost entirely without getting something in return. Not to argue rich people never did anything useful for humanity. The pun is that one may be promoted to great status for doing great things but after that there is no obligation to continue doing great things. We are in an endless war against the grea…

> It's a fascinating bit of biology to see a species collectively sacrifice its well being for the benefit of one man

I wouldn't attribute this phenomenon to biology. But in a healthy world, there would have been an intervention by now—at the very least with pitchforks, but ideally through institutional channels. I'm curious to see if that will still happen, or if we'll simply hand the world over to our new feudal overlords without putting up a fight.

Re: What does Jeff Bezos think is going to happen?

#123

Post by pointlessone »

InsideOutSanta wrote: post #38
__MatrixMan__ wrote: post #4

> Well, from now on the workflow will be: > - Find the book I want on Amazon. > - Buy it. > - Find the same book on a torrent site. > - Download it. > - Physically copy it onto the Kindle via a USB cable. Wait a second... you're rewarding Amazon and the publisher for their bad behavior by continuing to buy from Amazon? Nothing about this plan is discouraging the problem. Cut out the middlemen. Torrent it and send the…

As somebody who wrote a book in the past, yes, this. Give Amazon no money. If you want to spend money because pirating makes you feel bad, send a few bucks to the author, buy something on the publisher's store, or go to your local book store and spend some money there. But never feel bad about not sending money to Amazon.

How much money? I mean, the natural answer is full price but that’s not the amount the author gets from a regular sale. There’s a whole range where it’s cheaper to freebooters and still more profitable to the author.

I’ve seen an argument that buying an album from a musician (or a physical media or merch) and pirating the rest of their library in most cases more profitable to the musician than streaming.

I suppose there’s a similar dynamic in publishing where the overhead created by all the intermediaries is significant compared to the actual work done by the author, editor, designers, and so on.

Re: What does Jeff Bezos think is going to happen?

#124

Post by verzali »

rzzzt wrote: post #51
shinycode wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Actually if authors could sell directly I’ll gladly buy from them each and every time and cut off the middle man.

What is making it complex for authors to sell directly? Edit: hah, only 15 minutes late with my attempt at Socratic spiel: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48810056

Marketing, mostly.

Re: What does Jeff Bezos think is going to happen?

#125

Post by Eddy_Viscosity2 »

Aarostotle wrote: post #89
ElevenLathe wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Your morality is pretty strange if it equates ignoring some of the more odious terms in a hundred-page click-through EULA to knowingly engaging in wage theft. I would honestly like to hear you explain that further.

The moral principle here is just property rights. One case is more complex than the other, but that does not change the fundamental. Two cases: 1) Two parties agree to a trade under certain terms, one party decides he does not like the terms, and decides he wants to take the benefit without complying with the agreement. 2) One party decides he does not like the offered terms, does not accept the agreement, but takes…

Its the enormous power differential between the two parties that changes the moral dynamic. There is no compromise and no negotiation possible, which are the foundations of fair contracts. Couple that with effective monopolies and you have a situation with no moral authority. Just super powerful entities pushing around weaker ones because they can.

Re: What does Jeff Bezos think is going to happen?

#126

Post by mjhay »

dingaling wrote: post #98
ah1508 wrote: post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I agree, easy and much more pleasant. Walk down the street, go into the bookshop (which is by essence a place in 3D, much more pleasant than a screen), search for a book, find it, turn a few pages, chat with the seller or with someone else interested by a book you liked, buy the book you came for, and another one you did not plan to buy, stop somewhere to drink a coffee, open the first few pages, etc... How can a web…

> search for a book They don't have it, because they've limited shelf space and only stock popular books that are on best-seller lists. The History of Scruggs Biplanes 1907-1919 isn't one of them.

I assure you they would be more than happy to order it for you.

Re: What does Jeff Bezos think is going to happen?

#127

Post by InsideOutSanta »

pointlessone wrote: post #123
InsideOutSanta wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As somebody who wrote a book in the past, yes, this. Give Amazon no money. If you want to spend money because pirating makes you feel bad, send a few bucks to the author, buy something on the publisher's store, or go to your local book store and spend some money there. But never feel bad about not sending money to Amazon.

How much money? I mean, the natural answer is full price but that’s not the amount the author gets from a regular sale. There’s a whole range where it’s cheaper to freebooters and still more profitable to the author. I’ve seen an argument that buying an album from a musician (or a physical media or merch) and pirating the rest of their library in most cases more profitable to the musician than streaming. I suppose th…

If you send the author half of what the book costs, there's an almost 100% chance this is more than they would have made if you had bought the book. If you send the author 20%, that's roughly what most authors earn per book sale. It can be substantially higher or lower depending on a bunch of factors, but I think it's a reasonable rule of thumb.

> I’ve seen an argument that buying an album from a musician (or a physical media or merch) and pirating the rest of their library in most cases more profitable to the musician than streaming.

Streaming is a particularly brutal example for musicians. Book authors make quite a bit more per book sale than musicians make per stream.

Re: What does Jeff Bezos think is going to happen?

#128

Post by __MatrixMan__ »

InsideOutSanta wrote: post #127
pointlessone wrote: post #123

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How much money? I mean, the natural answer is full price but that’s not the amount the author gets from a regular sale. There’s a whole range where it’s cheaper to freebooters and still more profitable to the author. I’ve seen an argument that buying an album from a musician (or a physical media or merch) and pirating the rest of their library in most cases more profitable to the musician than streaming. I suppose th…

If you send the author half of what the book costs, there's an almost 100% chance this is more than they would have made if you had bought the book. If you send the author 20%, that's roughly what most authors earn per book sale. It can be substantially higher or lower depending on a bunch of factors, but I think it's a reasonable rule of thumb. > I’ve seen an argument that buying an album from a musician (or a physi…

Wouldn't it be cool if we could get to the point where authors (and artists generally) are making more from voluntary direct payments than they are from the platforms?

It would be a great way to demonstrate how broken the funding model is, and all of that money would be money that didn't contribute to the surveillance/censorship tech that copyright is used to justify.

Re: What does Jeff Bezos think is going to happen?

#129

Post by 6510 »

ahf8Aithaex7Nai wrote: post #122
6510 wrote: post #81

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's a fascinating bit of biology to see a species collectively sacrifice its well being for the benefit of one man almost entirely without getting something in return. Not to argue rich people never did anything useful for humanity. The pun is that one may be promoted to great status for doing great things but after that there is no obligation to continue doing great things. We are in an endless war against the grea…

> It's a fascinating bit of biology to see a species collectively sacrifice its well being for the benefit of one man I wouldn't attribute this phenomenon to biology. But in a healthy world, there would have been an intervention by now—at the very least with pitchforks, but ideally through institutional channels. I'm curious to see if that will still happen, or if we'll simply hand the world over to our new feudal ov…

I think of it as a species trying different formulas until one sticks to the wall. (it never does) Eventually, one way or the other, we will go full grasshopper and burn everything to the ground again, we have that part down to an art.

We will again (proverbially) ride our horse to the saloon with our gun (or sword) hanging from our belt, we will play poker, smoke, drink, sing, dance and hang out with the guys - only to have each one of those things taken away again.

Re: What does Jeff Bezos think is going to happen?

#130

Post by swframe2 »

It's my understanding that when you purchase content you get a license that is limited to terms the seller defines (i.e. only if the content is delivered from seller's approved data sources, only if the content is viewed on a seller approved device, only if the content has a seller approved drm, etc).
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