Hopefully there’s time for publishers to make sure the book industry doesn’t go the way of the music business.
No one can fight the technology – e-readers will become more popular (esp. if they make a waterproof version you can read in the bath) and content will inevitably appear on all those diabolical file sharing sites. Before everyone rushes out to buy the hardware, it will have to get cheaper and smarter and that might be a way off. But Apple could still reveal an iTablet and if/when they do it could shake things up as much as iPod/iTunes did.
Is there a way of persuading people that free is not good? Authors (content creators) have still got to earn a crust, but then most of them do have day jobs.
Authors won’t be selling merchandise at book signings (I’m not sure many bands sell out of t-shirts) and I can’t see the O2 jam packed with Hilary Mantell fans.
Here’s the article responsible for the incoherent ramblings above: Will books be Napsterized?
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