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You can also make near 0-cost copies of physical books. Only thing stopping you is copyright law.
by infinite8s 12y ago
You can also make near 0-cost copies of physical books. Only thing stopping you is copyright law.
- bjelkeman-again 12y agoOk, i'll bite. How do yo do that? Let's say I have an 800 page Neal Stephenson hardback. I don't want to destroy the book, but I want to copy it. How do I copy that at 0-cost? Even with a borrowed laser printer/copier with free toner and paper I imagine I have to open the book 400 times and push it onto the copier glass and make a copy. That will take me 5 sec per spread, so say 10 spreads per minute. If I am done just under an hour, then I will have lost $100 of invoicable time. So, that wasn't 0-cost. You must have another way?
- teddyh 12y agoThe marginal cost is 0. Since, once you have made your digital copy, you can make infinite copies, your amortized cost per copy approaches 0.
- miahi 12y agoThat's just because your opportunity cost is high. Compare it to a person who makes $100 in a month (there are countries where $100 is close to the median income) and you will understand why there are people who do actually copy or scan books instead of buying them.
- bjelkeman-again 12y agoYeah, I am quite familiar with people who make less than we do. But, I just think it is a bit much to say that copying books is nearly free. It isn't.