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I have a strong aversion to buying ebook licenses because I worry that a capricious Amazon support person could make my entire library disappear in a moment wit

by cwkoss 6y ago

I have a strong aversion to buying ebook licenses because I worry that a capricious Amazon support person could make my entire library disappear in a moment with no recourse available. I think a system where I could buy an ebook NFT and that would not only grant me a license to download the ebook, but also authorize third parties to transfer the data of the ebook to me (probably for a nominal fee in crypto) would be cool. Essentially, a legal platform-agnostic torrent system as file store. I'd be much more interesting in building a digital library if it seemed like it could both have resale value and would serve as a durable mechanism for accessing that information throughout my lifetime and beyond. However, solving that issue requires building an amount of trust that will not come quickly - we are years away from this future at minimum.

mdoms 6y ago
I don't see how this solves any problems. Ok, so you have a NFT with a license on the blockchain. Now what? You still have to go to amazon.com / kobo.com / [wherever].com and plug your license in to download your book. They still control the keys to the castle.
- cwkoss 6y ago
  > but also authorize third parties to transfer the data of the ebook to me This would give safe harbor for whoever wants to validate my NFT to serve the file to whoever has a valid license, which allow for greater diversity and quantity of hosts.
dangoor 6y ago
FWIW, I put my books on Amazon with DRM turned off, but I get what you're saying. I'm honestly not certain about the state of DRM in the other ebook stores. As I understand it, you actually can back up your ebook library using Calibre, because all DRM systems are breakable. I think more people are likely to lose access to their crypto wallet that contains their books than Amazon will cut people off from their libraries. As much as I like the vision you're presenting (and I do! there are real reader wins for that), I'd rather see BookFunnel build a full storefront. They already have their own reader/audiobook player app and keep track of books you've bought. They can transfer those books to your device of choice (Kindle, Nook, etc.), so you're not locked in. Worried about BookFunnel losing your account? None of their books have DRM. They could even make it so you can download your whole library to make a backup. Thus far, BookFunnel is an author service company. Authors pay them to distribute their books. Adding a storefront would be a big shift, but they really could put together something great. Of course, adding resale when books don't have DRM is essentially impossible. Which would you rather have? DRM and the ability for the merchant to remove books from your devices, or no DRM but the ability to resell the books?

by cwkoss 6y ago

mdoms 6y ago

I don't see how this solves any problems. Ok, so you have a NFT with a license on the blockchain. Now what? You still have to go to amazon.com / kobo.com / [wherever].com and plug your license in to download your book. They still control the keys to the castle.

cwkoss 6y ago
> but also authorize third parties to transfer the data of the ebook to me This would give safe harbor for whoever wants to validate my NFT to serve the file to whoever has a valid license, which allow for greater diversity and quantity of hosts.

dangoor 6y ago

FWIW, I put my books on Amazon with DRM turned off, but I get what you're saying. I'm honestly not certain about the state of DRM in the other ebook stores. As I understand it, you actually can back up your ebook library using Calibre, because all DRM systems are breakable. I think more people are likely to lose access to their crypto wallet that contains their books than Amazon will cut people off from their libraries. As much as I like the vision you're presenting (and I do! there are real reader wins for that), I'd rather see BookFunnel build a full storefront. They already have their own reader/audiobook player app and keep track of books you've bought. They can transfer those books to your device of choice (Kindle, Nook, etc.), so you're not locked in. Worried about BookFunnel losing your account? None of their books have DRM. They could even make it so you can download your whole library to make a backup. Thus far, BookFunnel is an author service company. Authors pay them to distribute their books. Adding a storefront would be a big shift, but they really could put together something great. Of course, adding resale when books don't have DRM is essentially impossible. Which would you rather have? DRM and the ability for the merchant to remove books from your devices, or no DRM but the ability to resell the books?