Quote:
Originally Posted by screwballl
Almost all digital media types have a license.
3) Yet others state "you can only use this in the exact format for the exact device in which you received it", this means you buy it, you "legally" cannot alter it in any way, cannot transfer it to a replacement or new device, even if it dies, meaning if your device dies, you are required to buy the same thing again. This is what most current CD and mp3 music, most ebooks and most programs you buy fall under.
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I don't find this to be the case. Most licenses that I've encountered for ebooks, software and mp3s allow multiple devices, device transfer and keeping a backup copy provided an alteration (such as format change) isn't required. Most software I've used is licensed to the user, not the device. Even most high-end software licensing, which is known for being restrictive in many cases, allows two simultaneous installations as long as you only use one at a time (allowing for both desktop and laptop installation, for example), and will reactivate your license if your computer dies and you need another install.
As for music, even iTunes lets you activate multiple devices to use with your library, and you can deactivate a certain number per year to make room for more. They provide instructions on how to move your iTunes library to a new computer. Music licensing isn't nearly as restrictive today as it once was. I recall once having three or four different music players on my computer, each with it's own library of files only it could play. Thankfully those days are pretty much gone. Right now ebooks are where music downloads used to be, and I expect it to change as we go along just like music did.
Proprietary formats and devices are a separate issue, and I'm assuming you were not including this since you included things that don't have this issue in the way that some (but not all) ebooks do. (Lightroom doesn't care if it's installed on my Dell or my Toshiba, for example.)
I would say most licensing falls in between #2 and #3.