[Elfwreck]

Originally Posted by djgreedo

I don't think the right to transfer ownership is a necessity for ebooks.

The right to resell software has already been held up in court. I don't know that I'd think the right to transfer ownership of ebooks is a "necessity" as much as it's "the same as the right to transfer ownership of any other property."

While property rights over digital content may change, removing the expectation of the right to transfer ownership involves a drastic change in laws. It's not something that can be done with a simple handwaving, "oh, that doesn't apply to digital files." It would shake the foundations of the used computer industry, for one, if they couldn't legally leave files & software on a computer when selling it.

There's potential room for "you can only transfer ownership of digital files if you transfer ownership of a physical medium with them." Which, um. Just means more burned discs of files, or sales of flash drives loaded with books, music & software.

Maybe, maybe not. It doesn't make as much sense to me for a digital file as for a physical book. And I think digital pricing will be low enough that there will be no assumed right to resell something when you've finished with it. It will be a more 'disposable' product and attitude.

Even "disposable" pbooks get shared.

Are people selling their unwanted MP3s for 20c? I hardly see the point.

People tend to re-use mp3s in ways they don't re-use ebooks. I've got a handful of ebooks I re-read... but none I will re-read a dozen times in a week.

I recently sold a lot of my books - because they were cluttering up my house. I didn't make any real money off them.

Did you sell them, or burn them?

The issue isn't as much "how can I profit off these books I paid for?" as "I'm done with this... what can I do so it doesn't go to waste?" The desire to transfer ownership has nothing to do with wanting to make a profit or recoup one's costs--it's tied to the notions of avoiding waste and maximizing use of scarce resources.

As long as laws are going to support the idea of digital files being a scarce resource, people are going to attempt to maximize their use. And if publishers would like to prevent swarms of illegal copies, they need to figure out how to allow and encourage legally transfered ownership of those files.

Publishers need to say, "when you're done with your ebook, this is how you give it to someone else"... otherwise, the ebook industry will continue to split into two groups: those who purchase at full price every ebook they read, and those who scrounge, and help others scrounge, for less-costly options.

And the scroungers (or pirates, if you prefer, although not all are pirates; some seek out CC and free promo ebooks) will continue to feel justified, because their actions are more parallel to how people deal with physical books.

The incentive to get rid of junk is not really there when an ebook is a megabyte or so of data.

I have over 10gb of ebooks on my main hard drive. (Much of that is in scanned PDF format, yecch.) There's certainly plenty of incentive to clear out junk.

Also, to sell ebooks would require some proof of ownership (and evidence that the original is being sold, and no copies made). Could that be done without DRM?

Why would it require proof of ownership? If I hold a yard sale, I'm not required to provide purchase receipts for the blender I sell. If I donate a box of kitchenware to a local charity, nobody asks for proof of ownership.

Why can't I donate my used ebooks to my local library... "here, you can now loan out these ebooks too?"

Would you buy secondhand digital files? I don't think I would. I'd rather pay a little more and get the 'original', especially if the original is priced low enough - and know that the author is getting their payment.

If the original is priced low enough, and doesn't have annoying DRM, I'd be happy to buy that. If not, I'd be happy to purchase a "used" copy in a format I can use--especially if the "used" copy came with a review explaining why I'd probably like it.