Is the Internet a threat to publications? – Part 1
It is a question that comes up naturally, especially when the music and movie industries are in such turbulent times. In many ways, worrying about book, magazine and newspaper content online so late, is the source of a strange feeling. Thinking of all information as data, text and pictures require less data volume and storage space than audio information, which is in turn just a fraction of video data. So how come Internet piracy started from music and not text?
A decade earlier, when connections were excruciatingly slow, music downloads had to go through MP3 compression in order to make downloads small enough. Why not start from nice compact text? It would surely be easier. I think it all has to do with two facts:
- Convenience: A book or magazine can be enjoyed in bed or at the beach. Not the same can be said of a tiresome screen, especially under difficult light conditions. Furthermore, although software provides the ease of jumping to any point in a book or manual, the paper experience is still unmatched, both in tactile and in many cases speed terms. I have colleagues at work that cannot -still- look at 2D product drawings for a long time and prefer to always print them out. I know it is awfully wasteful, at the same time I show some understanding.
- Demand: Let’s face it, publications are declining, maybe slowly, but steadily. Not because people stopped reading stuff. Quite the opposite. But the truth is that there is very few books people talk about these days. Even best-sellers are hardly discussed any more. On the other side, music and films are items in great demand, widely discussed and systematically sought. Audio and visual expression has taken the upper hand, there is no doubt about that. And that is why a book based film is a big deal for the writer, while the opposite is rare and occurs as a franchise’s support material.
Logically, not all paper based information is the same, or equally desirable for transfer online. Content, size and target groups are all factors that determine to a large degree the suitability for online presence. In part 2 of the series I will concentrate on this very issue, together with the repercussions it might have on online piracy.
[...] Posted by Dimitrios Matsoulis on May 12, 2008 It is a question that comes up naturally, especially when the music and movie industries are in such turbulent times. In many ways, worrying about book, magazine and newspaper content online so late, is the source of a strange feeling. Thinking of all information as data, text and pictures require less data volume and storage space than audio information, which is in turn just a fraction of video data.So how come Internet piracy started from music and not text? (continued) [...]
May 12th, 2008 at 13:25