3 ms·

"Deteriorate" in this case refers to the physical condition of the product, not the value of its contents. Reading physical books puts wear on them and reduces

"Deteriorate" in this case refers to the physical condition of the product, not the value of its contents. Reading physical books puts wear on them and reduces their value. Reading ebooks produces no change to the book whatsoever. A resold ebook is indistinguishable from a new ebook, which means if reselling ebooks is allowed, there's no incentive to buy "new" as long as there are people willing to sell "used".

danShumway 7y ago
GP was using "deteriorate" in the same way you were. A well cared-for book will last for a really long time, particularly if it's a hardcover. I have books on my shelf that are older than I am -- for example, a children's book that was passed down to me from its original owner after being purchased nearly 50 years ago. The pages have some slight yellowing, and the corners are a little banged up as a result of me throwing it into a bookbag a few times, but it's otherwise in great condition. The binding hasn't even deteriorated. Eventually, I'll probably pass it down to a younger relative as well. Of course with digital goods you get literally no deterioration at all, but given how little they deteriorate I suspect most of the preference for 'newness' where books are concerned is probably mostly psychological, not practical. It's worth considering whether similar psychological effects might also pertain to digital goods. Handing someone a flash drive with an ebook on it might already count as a 'deteriorated' experience over typing in a code on your ebook reader's official store and getting a nice download that syncs with your account and has a shiny Verified Purchased Badge on the cover or something. There are lots of ways to make a purchase and a downloaded file feel personal and unique.
- emodendroket 7y ago
  One noticeable one with the Kindle is your highlights are visible on Amazon and Goodreads instead of being dumped into a text file.
  - lilyball 7y ago
    If Amazon has to enable reselling of ebooks, then surely the "used" book would have the same features.
    - danShumway 7y ago
      Would it? I could see Amazon arguing that you're reselling the book, not the annotation storage/syncing -- and as a consumer I generally wouldn't have a problem with that argument. The book is the thing I want resale rights on, not Amazon account features. I'm curious, what does the Kindle do with 3rd-party book annotations right now? On Kobo, 3rd-party Epubs that are loaded onto the device are treated differently than books bought through your account. They won't be used for recommendations, and as far as I know, nothing syncs anywhere. If your device breaks, you can't re-download your 3rd-party files unless you personally backed them up somewhere. I don't care, I buy most of my books directly from independent sellers/authors and side-load them. But it is admittedly a pain, and I have on occasion bought from Kobo's store just because I wanted to be reading right now instead of hunting around for a USB cable.
      - emodendroket 7y ago
        It's pretty much the same. The annotations go into a text file on the device and that's it.

danShumway 7y ago

GP was using "deteriorate" in the same way you were. A well cared-for book will last for a really long time, particularly if it's a hardcover. I have books on my shelf that are older than I am -- for example, a children's book that was passed down to me from its original owner after being purchased nearly 50 years ago. The pages have some slight yellowing, and the corners are a little banged up as a result of me throwing it into a bookbag a few times, but it's otherwise in great condition. The binding hasn't even deteriorated. Eventually, I'll probably pass it down to a younger relative as well. Of course with digital goods you get literally no deterioration at all, but given how little they deteriorate I suspect most of the preference for 'newness' where books are concerned is probably mostly psychological, not practical. It's worth considering whether similar psychological effects might also pertain to digital goods. Handing someone a flash drive with an ebook on it might already count as a 'deteriorated' experience over typing in a code on your ebook reader's official store and getting a nice download that syncs with your account and has a shiny Verified Purchased Badge on the cover or something. There are lots of ways to make a purchase and a downloaded file feel personal and unique.

emodendroket 7y ago
One noticeable one with the Kindle is your highlights are visible on Amazon and Goodreads instead of being dumped into a text file.
- lilyball 7y ago
  If Amazon has to enable reselling of ebooks, then surely the "used" book would have the same features.
  - danShumway 7y ago
    Would it? I could see Amazon arguing that you're reselling the book, not the annotation storage/syncing -- and as a consumer I generally wouldn't have a problem with that argument. The book is the thing I want resale rights on, not Amazon account features. I'm curious, what does the Kindle do with 3rd-party book annotations right now? On Kobo, 3rd-party Epubs that are loaded onto the device are treated differently than books bought through your account. They won't be used for recommendations, and as far as I know, nothing syncs anywhere. If your device breaks, you can't re-download your 3rd-party files unless you personally backed them up somewhere. I don't care, I buy most of my books directly from independent sellers/authors and side-load them. But it is admittedly a pain, and I have on occasion bought from Kobo's store just because I wanted to be reading right now instead of hunting around for a USB cable.
    - emodendroket 7y ago
      It's pretty much the same. The annotations go into a text file on the device and that's it.