4 ms·

The big problem with the e-books is that they are not sold, they are licensed. I would be very surprised if the license allows the libraries to do what you sugg

The big problem with the e-books is that they are not sold, they are licensed. I would be very surprised if the license allows the libraries to do what you suggest. In general, with licenses, the licensee is given as few rights as possible and all other rights are reserved for the licensor.

mindslight 7y ago
True true. That's a large part of what makes the copyright regime steadily worse. Though I've got to wonder about buying paperbacks and self digitizing. Google did a decent job destroying much of that angle, but I would think there could be a little opening left if you destroyed the originals such that you were completely format shifting. Then the same idea of one viewer at a time could be applied, with the system moving the work between devices rather than copying. If you lost your device with checked out pages on it, you'd get a library fine... You'd probably still get hit with an eventual legal kneecapping, but it's fun to think about.
gnicholas 7y ago
Also, one company (overdrive, a rakuten subsidiary) controls Ofer 90% of the US ebook lending market. This makes innovation in the space even less likely.
carlob 7y ago
Which is why I refuse to buy ebooks while they are at the same price as paper books. Unless publisher get their act together I will keep buying a hard copy and then pirating the ebook. I think this should be a right just like ripping CDs.
- kranner 7y ago
  If it's just about being able to keep your copy forever, you could buy the ebook and strip DRM. How does ebook price vs hardcopy price matter here?
  - pritambaral 7y ago
    > strip DRM As your parent says, they're already pirating the e-book. The difference is in how it appears to the publisher. If an e-book is bought and then ripped, the publisher doesn't become aware of the latter but they still see an e-book sale. > If it's just about being able to keep your copy forever It's not just about that. It's also about not supporting a sale one is opposed to on principle.
    - deleted 7y ago
      [deleted]
  - carlob 7y ago
    Sibling poster replied for me better better than I would have myself. Regarding price I wanted to add that a physical artifact that I can resell or pass down for generations is worth much more than the bits it encodes. I also think we have a somewhat different definition of forever.

mindslight 7y ago

True true. That's a large part of what makes the copyright regime steadily worse. Though I've got to wonder about buying paperbacks and self digitizing. Google did a decent job destroying much of that angle, but I would think there could be a little opening left if you destroyed the originals such that you were completely format shifting. Then the same idea of one viewer at a time could be applied, with the system moving the work between devices rather than copying. If you lost your device with checked out pages on it, you'd get a library fine... You'd probably still get hit with an eventual legal kneecapping, but it's fun to think about.

gnicholas 7y ago

Also, one company (overdrive, a rakuten subsidiary) controls Ofer 90% of the US ebook lending market. This makes innovation in the space even less likely.

carlob 7y ago

Which is why I refuse to buy ebooks while they are at the same price as paper books. Unless publisher get their act together I will keep buying a hard copy and then pirating the ebook. I think this should be a right just like ripping CDs.

kranner 7y ago
If it's just about being able to keep your copy forever, you could buy the ebook and strip DRM. How does ebook price vs hardcopy price matter here?
- pritambaral 7y ago
  > strip DRM As your parent says, they're already pirating the e-book. The difference is in how it appears to the publisher. If an e-book is bought and then ripped, the publisher doesn't become aware of the latter but they still see an e-book sale. > If it's just about being able to keep your copy forever It's not just about that. It's also about not supporting a sale one is opposed to on principle.
  - deleted 7y ago
    [deleted]
- carlob 7y ago
  Sibling poster replied for me better better than I would have myself. Regarding price I wanted to add that a physical artifact that I can resell or pass down for generations is worth much more than the bits it encodes. I also think we have a somewhat different definition of forever.