Nice people thread part 3- Nice as pie

michaels

Snap - they are one of my most hated things in life - what is the point of internet banking if you can't actually bank anywhere unless you happen to be carrying around a lump of plastic?

LydiaJ wrote: »

When I was shuffling my life insurance money round multiple accounts before buying a house with it, I had loads of these things: at least RBS, NatWest, Tesco & Ulster, and there may have been others that I've forgotten.

I don't think ebooks will happen for young children so there will always be an inertia for real books. I don't think cd/mp3 is necessary the model that will be followed as the printed book is more than just the format.

lostinrates

chewmylegoff wrote: »

You can sue someone for anything. Winning is another matter.

Unless yu're the lawyer...they always get paid! (no win no fee excluded!)

michaels

Went to look at this today as it is nearby and is a similar style to ours with a large extension so went to see if it would give us any ideas.

Conclusion - it is as overpriced as we thought from the details - the price they are asking is for designer interior but actually it is just OK - and who would have designed a house where the family bathroom is tiny and has no window, half the bedrooms have ssections out of them for stairs, hot water tank etc and the 'loft room' is just that - the roof still has all the trusses, purloins etc so although there is a floor and some velux there is no clear space...strange.

tomterm8

michaels wrote: »

I don't think ebooks will happen for young children so there will always be an inertia for real books. I don't think cd/mp3 is necessary the model that will be followed as the printed book is more than just the format.

Oh, I agree, there are lots of legacy uses that will probably continue. And people will probably still be able to buy print books for decades yet... like they can buy record players.

But. Young children books and coffee table books are small uses. They are barely significant in terms of money.

There's a real tipping point, which we're seeing in the US. Fewer purchases of print books means smaller runs, which means significantly more expensive books, which means ebook prices are even cheaper than print books... and there is a point where you can't afford to sell mass market paperback books any more.

That process is clearly happening in the USA already.

michaels

And then we are in to network effects / natural monopoly territory a la itunes store - imagine Amazon is the only 'publisher' - is that healthy?

I'm not sure the kids market being 'niche' is such a small issue as you say - what it means is that the first exposure to books will be books and not electronic - the opposite of mp3s.

tomterm8 wrote: »

Oh, I agree, there are lots of legacy uses that will probably continue. And people will probably still be able to buy print books for decades yet... like they can buy record players.

But. Young children books and coffee table books are small uses. They are barely significant in terms of money.

There's a real tipping point, which we're seeing in the US. Fewer purchases of print books means smaller runs, which means significantly more expensive books, which means ebook prices are even cheaper than print books... and there is a point where you can''t afford to sell mass market paperback books any more.

That process is clearly happening in the USA already.

vivatifosi

tomterm8 wrote: »

No idea.

I was wondering if a thread about ebooks might be of interest to the board? But to be honest, it's a little bit too much like economics. Probably bore people.

It's an interesting topic to me personally. The fiction print industry is worth around $60 billions worldwide. And, at the moment, it vaguely looks like its going bottom up. (America's third biggest bookseller went tits*up.com, and now its biggest bookseller is being bought out for a fraction). At the same time, eBook have gone from next to nothing to 5% of the American market in a year.

It's a big story. I think books are dying.

But possibly no one is interested?

I could talk about ebooks until the cows come home tomterm, so count me in!

The big concern for me is format. Most borrowable items from libraries are Adobe ePub and not for Kindle, but Kindle seems to be winning the format war. This worries me.

tomterm8

Kindle, one month ago, started supporting epub format. This is not popular knowledge. It is part of the overdrive deal, which is intended to make ebooks available to all US libraries.

michaels wrote: »

And then we are in to network effects / natural monopoly territory a la itunes store - imagine Amazon is the only 'publisher' - is that healthy?

I'm not sure the kids market being 'niche' is such a small issue as you say - what it means is that the first exposure to books will be books and not electronic - the opposite of mp3s.

Yeah, certainly. But, in terms of the industry, they only provide a very small amount of revenue. Less than 1%. And, the way technology is improving http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_tF2GddZqkg&feature=player_embedded in a decade you may very well have an ebook that functions exactly like a normal book.

I think at least at present there is a lot of competition for Amazon... so I hope that will limit the network effects.

vivatifosi

tomterm8 wrote: »

Kindle, one month ago, started supporting epub format. This is not popular knowledge. It is part of the overdrive deal, which is intended to make ebooks available to all US libraries.

That's great, because Overdrive is in UK libraries too.

PasturesNew

Never heard of overdrive. But then never seen an ebook reader of any sort and unlikely to rush out to buy one right now.

Davesnave

LydiaJ wrote: »

When I was shuffling my life insurance money round multiple accounts before buying a house with it, I had loads of these things: at least RBS, NatWest, Tesco & Ulster, and there may have been others that I've forgotten.

If you're with the Coventry, there's none of this high tech nonsense. They send you a grid card full of numbers and ask for the one shown at various refs, like d3, or f4.

It's a bit like playing battleships.