[sdiy] From Bernie of Electronotes

Mon Jun 26 01:14:00 CEST 2017

My understanding from talking to Bernie about this in the past is that the
paper is largely a sunk cost.  He's already bought a lot of it.

To make an electronic version viable, we would have to meet several needs:

Not leaving Bernie in the hole for the paper he has on hand.

Cover the cost of doing the digitizing right.  Included in that cost is a
person or people with the time to do the job, which Bernie does not have or
does not care to expend personally--as is his right.

Make arrangements for digital commerce that fairly compensate Bernie
without requiring a lot of time to manage himself.

Some reasonable effort to thwart the inevitable piracy.  With the paper
edition this is a very low issue, but obviously digital media are a whole
new ballgame.

If these could be solved to Bernie' s satisfaction, I'd bet a crowd funding
solution could work.  But simply asserting that one or the other of these
concerns (or any that I've missed, for that matter) isn't really important
doesn't move the conversation forward in any meaningful way.

We're very rapidly reaching the point of repeating ourselves instead of
having a conversation.  Hopefully we can avoid that rat hole.....

Pete

On Jun 25, 2017 6:46 PM, <sleepy_dog at gmx.de> wrote:

>
> >> The way to encourage the brightest among us to share their knowledge is
> not to see how low we can devalue what they do.  No thank you, I am not
> interested in a race to the bottom. <<
>
> The paper is only the carrier material. I don't see the virtue of burning
> money on an inefficient form of delivery.
> Not to mention the substantial added cost of shipping half a boatload of
> paper from the US to overseas.
>
> And he already mentioned he isn't making a lot off of it.
> If you could increase the number of sales, which lower prices tend to do,
> and, after some initial fixed effort, could reduce the ongoing effort, as
> was suggested, it might actually increase the profit.
>
> Perhaps some people with expertise in the newest scanning tech can give
> some insights, to remove some of the roadblocks.
>
> Perhaps if enough people are interested from the get go, no risk of up
> front investment for such a project would be necessary.
> I.e., open a *Kickstarter* project, and spread the news throughout any
> damn site that has (wannabe) synth DIYers on it, and let's see whether
> enough backers can be found to meet the goal. If so, he gets the money, no
> ifs no buts. If not, the project gets the failed status, and not much harm
> was done.
>
> Or how about this here:
> https://leanpub.com/
>
> People can buy not-yet-finished e-books, the books status (and content) is
> updated by the author, and those who already purchased, have access to it.
> I.e. you can read what's already there when it's there, nobody has to wait
> until it's *all* done, which might increase the willingness of some to pay
> up front. You don't have to wait so long until you get *something*.
>
>
> Maybe some people forgot that, but 300..400 bucks is a lot for some,
> especially young people.
> And those are a target audience, too,  if you don't want this niche hobby
> to die out ;-)
>
> Now perhaps I am exaggerating due to ignorance, I'm not that long into
> SDIY, but my impression is that there are not that many (still in print)
> good books out there explaining analog synth circuits. So making material
> that makes that more accessible would be most excellent, dudes.
>
>
> Steve
>
>
> Am 25.06.2017 um 22:39 schrieb Tom Farrand:
>
> Michael,
>
> Shakespeare is dead and any copyright of his work died a very long time
> ago.
>
> Beethoven is also at end-stage death but his stuff costs a little more
> because the copyright is still very much alive on the PERFORMANCE of his
> works.  That is what the $28 is for ... the performance of Beethoven's
> works.  Beethoven and his descendants get nada.  Same for Shakespeare ...
> nada.
>
> I fail to see any similarity between two dead guys and what copies of
> their stuff sells for, to that of Bernie, who is very much alive and still
> producing stuff.
>
> Electronotes is a "vintage" history book that is still being written by
> the original author.  I am more than just a little grateful for his
> contributions to my education.
>
> As to cost, I think that most any single order I've placed to SynthCube or
> Mouser or Digi-Key for parts, would exceed the full cost of the paper
> version of Electronotes on which many of us learned from Bernie what it's
> all about.  A deep understanding of this subject matter that has made many
> of us fairly skilled in the art, is for sale for less than $400.  I think
> that is a bargain.  Hells, bells, an opening night opera ticket can cost up
> to a grand or more.  And when it's over ... it's over.
>
> The way to encourage the brightest among us to share their knowledge is
> not to see how low we can devalue what they do.  No thank you, I am not
> interested in a race to the bottom.
>
> Tom Farrand
>
> On Sun, Jun 25, 2017 at 1:19 PM, MOB <mob at mindspring.com> wrote:
>
>> Tom,
>>
>> I completely agree that Bernie should be free to do whatever he wishes
>> with his intellectual property.
>>
>> I did think, and I do take issue with your last argument.  In less than a
>> minute, I found a Kindle edition of the complete works of Shakespeare for
>> 99 cents and CD's of the complete symphonies of Beethoven for $28.
>>
>> There's a trade-off satisfaction from income from fewer high-paying users
>> and from having your work more widely known and used.  We all know that in
>> a consumer-based world, the single-item price is *not* the index of value.
>> An individual has a right to choose either, but it's nice to know that both
>> options are available.
>>
>> Best regards,
>>
>> Michael
>>
>> On 6/25/2017 1:37 PM, Tom Farrand wrote:
>>
>>> Can I reduce your life's work into a $50 PDF?  Is that what a lifetime
>>> of work is worth nowadays?  People: think.
>>>
>>
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