Comments on: Would you like a digital copy to go with that? http://www.kanjhan.com/2008/08/21/would-you-like-a-digital-copy-to-go-with-that/ A blog on Digital Marketing, Social Media and Technology Mon, 06 Feb 2012 18:19:13 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: Bhavi http://www.kanjhan.com/2008/08/21/would-you-like-a-digital-copy-to-go-with-that/comment-page-1/#comment-34 Bhavi Sat, 23 Aug 2008 09:40:47 +0000 http://www.kanjhan.com/?p=134#comment-34 I believe it was NIN that released a CD which when heated up because of playing would change colour and reveal a code which was a link to a website with an extra track. It is stuff like this which makes users want to buy the original copy instead of pirating it. As for the point about books, an electronic version is most certainly created so reproduction and distribution of that costs close to nothing. Only costs we are looking at are for bandwidth, but when we're talking about a few megabytes per file, those are next to nothing. In fact if it gets the user to get onto the author's or publisher's website, it could just as easily serve as a means to either advertise more books or even sell the books online. This being a user who might not have logged on otherwise. I believe it was NIN that released a CD which when heated up because of playing would change colour and reveal a code which was a link to a website with an extra track. It is stuff like this which makes users want to buy the original copy instead of pirating it.

As for the point about books, an electronic version is most certainly created so reproduction and distribution of that costs close to nothing. Only costs we are looking at are for bandwidth, but when we’re talking about a few megabytes per file, those are next to nothing. In fact if it gets the user to get onto the author’s or publisher’s website, it could just as easily serve as a means to either advertise more books or even sell the books online. This being a user who might not have logged on otherwise.

]]> By: Jonathan http://www.kanjhan.com/2008/08/21/would-you-like-a-digital-copy-to-go-with-that/comment-page-1/#comment-35 Jonathan Fri, 22 Aug 2008 14:07:05 +0000 http://www.kanjhan.com/?p=134#comment-35 Interesting. I was trying to think of examples where the same product is essentially sold twice, in different media. I think it is quite common - for instance you can buy an audio book version of the written one, or you can buy a CD of a live concert, or the DVD. In those cases there is typically some additional work that is done to create the additional media, however in your example, the pdf surely is already created by the publisher. I think part of the problem with the whole DRM thing is that it started out as a knee jerk reaction "How DARE they pirate this???" and then the whole thing just turned into a war. Nobody ever really thought it through the way some are now, wondering, "Does it make business sense to provide this to the consumer free of charge?" Many businesses provide the strangest things for free you'd expect to pay for, but it makes business sense for them. I think the most successful artists etc of the next decade will be the ones whose business managers actually grasp this, and find a way to make it work. Interesting. I was trying to think of examples where the same product is essentially sold twice, in different media. I think it is quite common – for instance you can buy an audio book version of the written one, or you can buy a CD of a live concert, or the DVD. In those cases there is typically some additional work that is done to create the additional media, however in your example, the pdf surely is already created by the publisher.

I think part of the problem with the whole DRM thing is that it started out as a knee jerk reaction “How DARE they pirate this???” and then the whole thing just turned into a war. Nobody ever really thought it through the way some are now, wondering, “Does it make business sense to provide this to the consumer free of charge?” Many businesses provide the strangest things for free you’d expect to pay for, but it makes business sense for them.

I think the most successful artists etc of the next decade will be the ones whose business managers actually grasp this, and find a way to make it work.

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