They basically want to lag electronic versions of the book by four months. Why? So that people who pay 4 times as much to get the hardcover won't feel ripped off.
What will happen? The electronic version shows up on the very day the book is released. It is pirated and 4 months from the point, nobody's arsed to get the legit one.
The industry will complain about piracy destroying the ebook market while sales of ebooks continue to rise. They will introduce further DRM and make everybody who DOES buy legally regret it. Piracy continues because it is infinitely more preferable to read a book the day that book is available in stores.
The idiocy of clinging to 'the pricing model that has survived for decades' will lead to revenue losses for everybody, least of all the authors who were probably strong armed into this, the publishers because they see the beginning of the end and of course retailers, the bookshops.
Yes, it is sad but not more so than a kitten being booted off a bridge only to survive as a cripple, spat on and attacked by local kids before dying without ever experiencing a modicum of affection.
