yeah, and how about the war between Kindle and Sony Reader, where the former won–to the benefit of consumers and publishers alike?

The point is, VHS was not an open standard. Sony Corp had one set of patents, and JVC/Matshushita had another, and one of them won, and we all had to put up with paying for the VHS licensing fees thereafter.

So, if Amazon wins, they can license out their proprietary format (as they have begun to do already with the iPhone Kindle app) and we all have to put up with paying them licensing fees thereafter.

DRM is the real evil here, and the publishers all want DRM, and they want it in the worst, most evil forms we can imagine. Publishers, I bet you, have no problem whatsoever with devices erasing books in your collections, as it will make possible online lending libraries for rental of books, as well as textbooks that disappear themselves at term’s end.

S: Totally agree re ePub and the parade of gadgets. It’ll make it easier for consumers to keep up with new hardware without being format jockeys. As for social DRM, I’d respectfully disagree. It’s less intrusive than traditional DRM and should remind people that intellectual property is–property (unless released into the public domain). I believe that can make a difference.

HG: Heck, ePub is at least a start and can evolve over the years. Certainly it would simplify life for consumers and make them more likely to trust e-books.

Thanks, both of you.

Tired of the Tower of eBabel,
David

The point is that VHS has had its day in the sun – it is a dying (but not quite dead yet) format.

People can still buy buggy whips. However, I doubt the number of buggy whip SKU’s sold is quite as high as it once was.:)

All of these devices and formats are transitory. The life cycle of most of these things seems to be growing shorter and shorter.

I also have doubts about the longevity of any so-called standardized format. Seems to me once you get much beyond a plain ASCII file you’re asking for trouble!

That’s why making every effort to standardize formats is so important: If your hardware goes the way of the dodo (or the Commodore 64), your files will still be readable on your new device.

Oh, and by the by… David, though I applaud your efforts to rid the planet of onerous DRM, I don’t think social DRM has any point to it, because it simply doesn’t stop dishonest people. Might as well have no DRM at all, than go through the trouble of tacking “Property of Skippy with bogus credit card numberz” into the file…

As for VHS VCRs, I still use mine for time shiping. And, yes, legal VHS tapes are still on sale at Amazon and elsewhere. Example: http://www.amazon.com/Goodbye-Columbus-VHS-tape/dp/B002JAXG50/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1249926889&sr=8-2 .

Thanks,
David

And how many people still use VHS machines to watch movies? Can’t even buy or rent VHS movies anymore.

How long will DVD’s last? It seems the future is movie distro via the net.

How long will the Kindle last? Don’t know and as the owner of multiple Kindles not really too concerned.