It’s Not The Device Or The File, It’s The Internet, Stupid!, article.
(I'm don't think this article is very clear, but it touches on central issues.)
I've been discussing this with Adam Engst recently: the "thing-ness" of things we sell. A paper book has much thing-ness. An ebook has less, but some. A web article has almost none.
Us middle-aged guys tend to be stuck in the value of a thing being a thing. But is that changing? And fast?
Update: Bron sez:
Whew, maybe I should go read the article, though I think you are treading on strange ground ... the thingness of a thing.
It's not that strange. It's the degree to which something feels like a collected, complete object, one which you can own and transport around, and easily define.
If I collected all the newsletters on my site as an ebook, it would have more "thing-ness" than they have just sitting on a web site. If I made them into a paperbook, they would have even more.
Some of us feel that more thing-ness makes things feel more valuable, and thus should help sales. But strangely it does not seem to be the case. My big success has always been selling memberships, not collections or CDs or tee-shirts or whatever.
But I still have an emotional attachment to a Thing. I still want to 'write a Book', rather than 500 blog posts.
14 comments:
Ohh! Man ... ! Whew, maybe I should go read the article, though I think you are treading on strange ground ... the thingness of a thing.
Maybe I should just lay down.
Eolake said...
"...the "thing-ness" of things we sell."
Are you talking about the "tangibility" of something, Eo? To be able to have some sort of defining measurement of having accomplished something? Some sort of "record" of it?
"But I still have an emotional attachment to a Thing. I still want to 'write a Book', rather than 500 blog posts."
Which I think is awesome! Nothing wrong w/having an "emotional attachment" to something that you pour your "heart and soul" into! WISH you would take the time to write another book; I bet it would be another good read! :-)
Some of us feel that more thing-ness makes things feel more valuable, and thus should help sales. But strangely it does not seem to be the case. My big success has always been selling memberships, not collections or CDs or tee-shirts or whatever.
Sloppy thinking. All you've proven is that your tangible products have been less desirable than your memberships.
I think there's ample evidence that, all things being equal, tangible objects are considered more valuable than intangible ones. A CD vs. MP3 files, say.
It's a thought I can relate to. I've been consuming CDs for years and years, even though downloading is the current trend. I know it makes more logical sense to download(legally). I can have it instantly instead of waiting for it in the mail or hoping it's in a store. And it wouldn't use any materials, so it's better for the environment. But it's hard to break old habits.
Yet it seems CDs are loosing to MP3, even paid ones. So far as I know.
TCG,
I don't necessarily mean "tangible", by the way, I thought my examples would have made it clear. An ebook for example. It "feels" like an object mentally, because it is one clear package.
I still prefer tangible things only when I have to give a present to someone, because it's nicer to involve the sense of touch, thinking that an object has been "made" and traveled the whole wide world to get into your friend's hands etc. It has some sort of illogical, romantic involvement. But humans are illogical creatures, as Mr. Spock would say.
speaking of information or entertainment -- an eBook is superior to a collection of blog posts or web articles because one assumes some editorial work, collating, editing, choosing, etc etc. It is also given a more "definite" shape whereas web pages could be taken down, disappear etc.
If I buy an eBook AND I discover it's just an unedited, unmodified collection of blog posts, I'm gonna be royally pissed.
CDs make no sense for me, and it's a mystery that people still waste time, environment and energy on them. I buy legal downloads, often straight from the authors. I do not buy paper books unless really forced to (their real cost, for me, is the space they take up in the house. I call this "the shelving cost" as I always end up buying more shelves for books, and I'm out of space anyway).
In other words, I think I have already too many "things" and the more I can cut down on buying new ones, the better. I agree that one must be more disciplined because non-tangible goods are easier to forget about -- you buy an ebook and it stays in your kindle or ipad for a week or a month without being read, while an hardback sitting on your desk would not be as easily ignored.
Yes, I'm currently enjoying an audiobook, Time's Eye, an SF novel by Clarke and Stephen Baxter (who I went to a class with, by the way, before he got big). I found it last week, and I have no idea when I bought it.
Yet it seems CDs are loosing to MP3, even paid ones. So far as I know.
MP3s are gaining in sales volumes, but a physical CD of a newly released work still costs more.
What will happen is that the purchased MP3 will soon disappear as a format, as Spotify and its soon-to-be-released iTunes equivalent will take over.
Physical CDs will then, against all predictions, have over lived the MP3 as a commercial music format.
It won't live for long, though. When people discover how seamless it is to stream music over the Internet, they will no longer buy CD players, and the CD as a format will die.
The last man standing will be vinyl! But mostly as a curiosity.
It's strange that so many people actually buy mp3s. I'd feel like a chump shelling out and not getting anything for it. Sure, once in a while they'll charge some guy and fine him five billion dollars, but meanwhile there are hundreds of millions of people getting away with it. It's stealing, absolutely, and I don't try to rationalize it.
Books I still buy if they are favorites that I will re-read again and again. For the most part I do still prefer an actual book but that's mainly because I still don't have a kindle or an ipad. If I want to read an old favorite, though, I want a real book.
If I buy an eBook AND I discover it's just an unedited, unmodified collection of blog posts, I'm gonna be royally pissed.
I bought that "Things White People Like" which is probably just a printing of a selection from the guy's blog. However, a lot of times these books end up in the bargain bin for next to nothing. And really, I know I wouldn't have read the same material on his blog. Sitting there, scrolling through entries...blah. I can only stand a few minutes of that at a time. That's part of resistance to getting one of those electronic devices. As long as there are still libraries containing real books, I can use them to read for free and decide what ones I want to have my copies of. That's kind of the point of those places. (No, they're not just a place people go for free internet.)
It's strange that so many people actually buy mp3s. I'd feel like a chump shelling out and not getting anything for it.
People do it for convenience, i.e. essentially paying for the service to deliver it to your computer's hard disk.
I've only ever bought two MP3 albums. The last one was 1984 by Rick Wakeman. Spotify didn't have it, and a cursory search for a torrent yielded nothing. So I bought it. But a couple months later it appeared in Spotify, so I now regret the purchase. I doubt that I'll ever buy an MP3 again.
Books I see a little differently. As soon as I get an iPad, I intend to stop buying paper books of new releases. But old, rare books I might still occasionally buy in hardcopy. I consider old books and new books different mediums.
As soon as I get an iPad, I intend to stop buying paper books of new releases. But old, rare books I might still occasionally buy in hardcopy.
I'm planning on doing the same thing. Hopefully that wouldn't eventually cause paper books to become so expensive they'd be out of reach of the average joe. Call me paranoid, but I do kind of worry about that. I also wonder if electronic things might be more easily controlled by governments.
As for mp3s, CDs, vinyl... I don't know if vinyl actually sounds better or not, but I have noticed that sometimes the precision of machine-made things is not always preferable. Something similar to the Uncanny Valley maybe.
I like to own books - but doesn't care for CD's any more.
I've read a lot of the books on my phone, but I still don't feel like buying a DRM'ed ebook. I usually buy the paperback and try to find a html version somewhere.
I even once OCRed a book myself, because I couldn't find a digital version. Not as time consuming as I though it would be (about two hours for 180pages).
There's also the fact that most ebooks tend to cost the same as a hardcover, even when the paperback has been released. I just can't get myself to pay 13us$, when there's a 6us$ paperback available.
There's also the fact that most ebooks tend to cost the same as a hardcover, even when the paperback has been released. I just can't get myself to pay 13us$, when there's a 6us$ paperback available.
I have a feeling if they really take off pretty soon they'll be available for free like songs are, and book publishers will be whining about it as music producers were and are. They will kick themselves for inventing these devices.
Anonymous, ttl,
songs are not free, they are only if you choose to steal them. same with ebooks, photographs, movies ,and anything else.
A society that doesn't find a way to legally distribute digital content and PAY its authors for it is going down a slippery slope.
It's a matter of respect. If writing songs or books is my job, why should you deprive me of my ability to make a living out of it?
Let's assume you are a plumber, what if I call you, you come to my house to fix my plumbing and then I say I'm not going to pay you? Are you going to be pissed or what?
The fact that a digital copy of a book or song appears not to include any labor or material costs is a big lie. The author put in many hours of labor, had to use a computer system, electricity, paid for internet access, hired people to do design work (covers, layout, sound recording, filming, or whatever the content needs in order to be delivered to the user).
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