Monday, April 22, 2002
Frankfurt eBook award funding dries up
Posted by Ed Hansberry in "ARTICLE" @ 02:13 PM
http://www.planetebook.com/mainpage.asp?webpageid=339
Well, Microsoft has discontinued its funding of the Frankfurt eBook Awards. Microsoft had given $100,000 in 1999 and continuted to fund the awards until now. I am not sure how much of this is related to the poor showing of ebooks in the marketplace (thank the publishers for that) or squabbles between various ebook organizations, which you can read about in the article. Whatever the cause, I am sick of bad news in the ebook world. These little groups can spat amongst themselves as to how ebooks should work and the publishers can continue to sell a very select number of titles with asinine DRM restrictions all they want. The public will continue to give a big YAWN to the whole concept until people can buy (yes - buy, not rent) ebooks by well known authors, or it will remain a niche market. That may be what the publishers want anyway. They despise digital media and rather than find a DRM solution that protects their rights and allows people to get material at a reasonable price and with minimal headache, they would likely prefer the whole concept die and continue to sell us paper. Rant over. :-(
Well, Microsoft has discontinued its funding of the Frankfurt eBook Awards. Microsoft had given $100,000 in 1999 and continuted to fund the awards until now. I am not sure how much of this is related to the poor showing of ebooks in the marketplace (thank the publishers for that) or squabbles between various ebook organizations, which you can read about in the article. Whatever the cause, I am sick of bad news in the ebook world. These little groups can spat amongst themselves as to how ebooks should work and the publishers can continue to sell a very select number of titles with asinine DRM restrictions all they want. The public will continue to give a big YAWN to the whole concept until people can buy (yes - buy, not rent) ebooks by well known authors, or it will remain a niche market. That may be what the publishers want anyway. They despise digital media and rather than find a DRM solution that protects their rights and allows people to get material at a reasonable price and with minimal headache, they would likely prefer the whole concept die and continue to sell us paper. Rant over. :-(
