5 ms·

To add to the downsides you have mentioned, we practically don't really own them. I mean, almost.

by chanux 11y ago

jbeales 11y ago
Yeah, "renting for life" doesn't bode well for passing a first edition ebook on to your children ;)
a3n 11y ago
I don't buy as many physical books as I used to; mostly fiction, and mostly used. I buy a fair number of ebooks, mostly technical, and mostly from O'Reilly. I love that they're DRM-free; in my case I take the PDF version, but they have other formats. Pakt has a very low-intrusiveness form of "DRM." They print your name on every page of the pdf that you buy, but it's otherwise unrestricted. I don't think Pakt or O'Reilly is going to come after you for sharing an ebook with a family member, and I've given a few copies of O'Reilly books to colleagues, to evangelize both O'Reilly and the tech in question.
- baghira 11y ago
  Similarly Springer ebooks have your name as a watermark at the bottom of the page, but no "real" DRM. It's a pretty reasonable compromise.
- fsloth 11y ago
  This. I categorize fiction anyway as "volatile" so I'm not too concerned when the book goes out of my reach (as long as I can read it once). Oreilly, Packt and Pragmatic's books in digital forms have little downsides, and the considerable upside that ever growing pile of physical books is no longer a stress factor (however minor) in a relationship :)
TheLoneWolfling 11y ago
I will not rent anything that can be copied losslessly. (Among other things, this is the major reason I don't have netflix.) And I consider anything that can be (legally) taken from me without my consent, or that I cannot legally reencode, to be rented. "Buying" an ebook currently is effectively renting it. If/when that changes, if/when I can actually buy an ebook, I will start buying ebooks.
- GFK_of_xmaspast 11y ago
  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eminent_domain https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eminent_domain
  - TheLoneWolfling 11y ago
    And now you know (one of the reasons) why I don't own property.

To add to the downsides you have mentioned, we practically don't really own them. I mean, almost.

by chanux 11y ago

To add to the downsides you have mentioned, we practically don't really own them. I mean, almost.

jbeales 11y ago

Yeah, "renting for life" doesn't bode well for passing a first edition ebook on to your children ;)

a3n 11y ago

I don't buy as many physical books as I used to; mostly fiction, and mostly used. I buy a fair number of ebooks, mostly technical, and mostly from O'Reilly. I love that they're DRM-free; in my case I take the PDF version, but they have other formats. Pakt has a very low-intrusiveness form of "DRM." They print your name on every page of the pdf that you buy, but it's otherwise unrestricted. I don't think Pakt or O'Reilly is going to come after you for sharing an ebook with a family member, and I've given a few copies of O'Reilly books to colleagues, to evangelize both O'Reilly and the tech in question.

baghira 11y ago
Similarly Springer ebooks have your name as a watermark at the bottom of the page, but no "real" DRM. It's a pretty reasonable compromise.
fsloth 11y ago
This. I categorize fiction anyway as "volatile" so I'm not too concerned when the book goes out of my reach (as long as I can read it once). Oreilly, Packt and Pragmatic's books in digital forms have little downsides, and the considerable upside that ever growing pile of physical books is no longer a stress factor (however minor) in a relationship :)

TheLoneWolfling 11y ago

I will not rent anything that can be copied losslessly. (Among other things, this is the major reason I don't have netflix.) And I consider anything that can be (legally) taken from me without my consent, or that I cannot legally reencode, to be rented. "Buying" an ebook currently is effectively renting it. If/when that changes, if/when I can actually buy an ebook, I will start buying ebooks.

GFK_of_xmaspast 11y ago
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eminent_domain https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eminent_domain
- TheLoneWolfling 11y ago
  And now you know (one of the reasons) why I don't own property.