An interesting article in the NYTimes from October 3rd: Will Books Be Napsterized? [1]
The premise being, as the consumer public migrates from paper to Kindles and e-book readers, there will be a growing temptation to skip the low-cost Amazon digital purchase, and run to the free alternative – sites like RapidShare, Megaupload, and Hotfile.
In the larger sense, we can certainly see this issue adding to the commodification of commercial content – a downward force on pricing. And while we frequently view legal publishing as somewhat insulated, Publishers will need to see this as a risk on the horizon. If there’s a saving grace, they do have the opportunity to learn from those that go before. There are more than a few tactical lessons to be taken from the music industry, and soon from non-legal publishers. Both in the column of what works, and more importantly what doesn’t.