Since the advent of eBay, which provides online marketplaces for the vending of goods and services by means of C2C, there has seemed a great market potential for websites specializing in the sale of "bytes" ...Since the advent of eBay, which provides online marketplaces for the vending of goods and services by means of C2C, there has seemed a great market potential for websites specializing in the sale of "bytes" goods - digitalized online fiction, music and videos. Information technology has transformed many industries; the publishing industry is no exception. In the past, writers had to depend on publishers to market their books. But now a new pattern has emerged with the appearance of www.cmfu.com, presently China’s foremost online portal for original fiction. Writers upload theirs novels and stories andreaders are charged using a point card system. But this is not simply a matter of pay-per-read. Readers can provide sugges- tions as to how an author might improve his or her work, and in this way, play a more significant role in the shaping of the literary product. Since no publisher is involved, the cost to readers is drastically reduced. Similarly, music and video clips can be uploaded to servers, and accessed by consumers without having to go through the middle men of music and video companies. It is quite possible that we are witnessing the development of the early stages of a new form of publishing where consumers both consume and create the content. The obstacle is that at present no website is able to integrate these functions by means of C2C. Whoever solves the problem looks set to become the eBay of the world of online digital content.展开更多
文摘Since the advent of eBay, which provides online marketplaces for the vending of goods and services by means of C2C, there has seemed a great market potential for websites specializing in the sale of "bytes" goods - digitalized online fiction, music and videos. Information technology has transformed many industries; the publishing industry is no exception. In the past, writers had to depend on publishers to market their books. But now a new pattern has emerged with the appearance of www.cmfu.com, presently China’s foremost online portal for original fiction. Writers upload theirs novels and stories andreaders are charged using a point card system. But this is not simply a matter of pay-per-read. Readers can provide sugges- tions as to how an author might improve his or her work, and in this way, play a more significant role in the shaping of the literary product. Since no publisher is involved, the cost to readers is drastically reduced. Similarly, music and video clips can be uploaded to servers, and accessed by consumers without having to go through the middle men of music and video companies. It is quite possible that we are witnessing the development of the early stages of a new form of publishing where consumers both consume and create the content. The obstacle is that at present no website is able to integrate these functions by means of C2C. Whoever solves the problem looks set to become the eBay of the world of online digital content.
