Quote:
Originally Posted by tompe
So then people should be able to accept that an ebook is read by a certain number of other people without them paying for it and that it is built into the system. I think that the number of people reading without paying in some way for a DRM free ebook will be about the same as for paper books.
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That is what you think. But you forget about the big difference between paper books and ebooks: Paper books cannot be copied (technically they can, but you know what I mean). Ebooks without copy protection can be copied within seconds and in unlimited numbers. They can be read simultaneously by many people. A paper book can be read by only one person at a time. So a paper book has a built in copy protection: it wears off over time and cannot be copied. That copy protection needs to be adopted on ebooks.
Libriaries that offer ebooks give you a limited license for each book. After a certain date you cannot access the ebook file any more. And if you buy at mobipocket, fictionwise an co. you get a DRM book that can only be read on four devices simultaneously. That is certainly much better than with a paper book, which you can only read at one place at a time.
And of course you can borrow and lend ebooks. But you have to change the PIDs at the store the book was bought at.
I agree, however, a store going out of business or stopping to support certain kinds of files can indeed be a problem. This needs to be addressed. DRM is not perfect and certainly bothersome. But I cannot see any alternatives around the corner. Surely an author wants to get paid for his work. It means that someone who wants to read his book has to buy or lend a book legally. And to ensure this you need ways to limit the ability to copy books in seconds. How should this be done without using DRM? Any ideas? If somebody comes up with something better than what we have today, fine. I would welcome it.
Alan