Quote:
Originally Posted by CWatkinsNash
No one is entitled to any given book in any given format.
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Christa, I have to disagree. The concept of copyright law is that when the term of copyright expires, the public is indeed entitled to the book's content! Thus it is called "public domain".
The revolutionary thing about digital files is that we can now divorce the content from the medium. Consider a book in the public domain like Huck Finn. You are entitled to publish that book, and to read it, without compensating its creator (the author).
In the past, you still had to buy the book because you were not entitled to the medium - the paperback book - without compensating its creator (the publisher).
But the price of the eBook file is born by you, and is so small it seems free.
I think that a great deal of the debate about piracy here at MR is based upon the common view that people should not enjoy something for nothing. But the digital revolution allows for just that.
I daresay that moral people believe that the author should be compensated. I believe that the current model of compensation doesn't work in the digital age. I believe that an alternative must be found. Artists did not always receive royalties. In the Middle Ages they were sponsored by princes, I think. Even today, painters are paid once for the work, and if the value goes up after that, they don't get any of the price appreciation.