It's an interesting conclusion the authors have reached.
As far as I can tell, they've made sure that they go from poor profit from e-book sales, to no profit, as the only e-book version that will be available (and it will, I'm quite certain) will be a non-sanctioned pdf of the scanned paper edition. Additionally, those that do download the copy, won't have any reasonable recourse to pay for the privilege -- if they want an e-book they're not very likely to want or need a paper edition as well.
Additionally, I'm not sure how good one year (or is it two) old data for e-books are -- I know I didn't have a reasonable reading platform for e-books until mid-2013 (and therefore no need for e-books) -- now that I have one, I don't see any reason to put an additional burden on my shelves, the environment etc in purchasing paper books for all but the most exceptional of texts. As I only have a small e-reader -- I'd very much prefer a DRM free epub to a pdf -- but hopefully 2014[1] will be the year of a4(ish) e-ink readers -- in which case I will be more than happy to rid myself of most of my books.
As far as I can tell, they've made sure that they go from poor profit from e-book sales, to no profit, as the only e-book version that will be available (and it will, I'm quite certain) will be a non-sanctioned pdf of the scanned paper edition. Additionally, those that do download the copy, won't have any reasonable recourse to pay for the privilege -- if they want an e-book they're not very likely to want or need a paper edition as well.
Additionally, I'm not sure how good one year (or is it two) old data for e-books are -- I know I didn't have a reasonable reading platform for e-books until mid-2013 (and therefore no need for e-books) -- now that I have one, I don't see any reason to put an additional burden on my shelves, the environment etc in purchasing paper books for all but the most exceptional of texts. As I only have a small e-reader -- I'd very much prefer a DRM free epub to a pdf -- but hopefully 2014[1] will be the year of a4(ish) e-ink readers -- in which case I will be more than happy to rid myself of most of my books.
[1] http://www.cnet.com.au/sony-launching-13-3-inch-e-ink-pdf-re...
http://goodereader.com/blog/electronic-readers/the-best-larg...