[QUOTE=screwballl;1313275]An author is paid per copy sold, regardless if it is paper or electronic. If it is for library use, they tend to get a higher percentage. Otherwise there is nothing comparative between a paper book and ebook. Someone (likely the publishers) are just finding ways to screw the public out of access to their books in electronic format, by forcing a "per copy license" of ebooks rather than allowing it to be used like it is supposed to be, as digital code to be freely distributed, free of the restrictions of physical copies.
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This is incredibly, mind-achingly stupid, since there's no way for the authors, etc. to make any money from their work. Of course you license per use. Otherwise, one library could buy one e-book, and share it with the 20,000 other US libraries, who could all lend as many copies as they want. With the result that 100,000 people read your book, and you are paid for one copy.
And I'm not sure where you come up with the idea that digital code is "supposed to" be freely distributed. It's not "supposed to be" anything.
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If that means the library is charged the same price as a physical book, so be it. The library at that point should be free to lend as many digital copies as they want. That is the entire purpose of having digital usage of media, not to be hampered by the same limitations of a physical item.
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The library can lend as many digital copies as they have licenses for.
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It is NOT a matter of free, but do you pay the library to "rent" a book? My library is 100% free for up to 2 items per person.
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The library actually buys the books it lends, and this money makes its way to the actual author and others involved in making the book.
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One possible modification of existing policy could be charging 10-25 cents each time an ebook is lent out without a wait, otherwise applying a physical restriction to freely distributable digital item is the dumbest thing anyone could do in this digital age.
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Have you ever read an e-book, bought a CD or DVD, or used computer software. None of these are "freely distributable" without the permission of the author.
Where have you been for the past 30 years?