On 03/11/2003 14:12:48, Stevan Harnad wrote: > Can I again suggest that, apart from our very reasonable interest in the > economic viability -- short-term and long-term -- of open-access journal > publishing, we not lose sight of our primary goal, which is *open > access*!
Agreed, both with the remarks about economics and the sentiments... however, economics, in my opinion, will influence OA, however defined. Apropos, and also of my message recently about single article sales here is an interesting item about a 'change of economics': LEGAL DOWNLOADS OUTPACE CD PURCHASES A new report from Billboard magazine shows that online music purchases have surpassed sales of CD singles. According to the report, 7.7 million songs were purchased online since the end of June, compared to 4 million CD singles. Some argued that these numbers are misleading because relatively few songs are offered as singles on a disc, whereas around 500,000 songs are available online from legal music services. Several online music services are working to provide a legal alternative to illegal file trading taking place over the Internet. Phil Quartararo of EMI Music said, "Any way we can drive a consumer to purchase music as opposed to taking music is a win for the industry." BBC, 3 November 2003 http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/3237021.stm
