Quote:
Originally Posted by DiapDealer
Sums up my thoughts/stance perfectly.  |
I'll second that.
Digital media is not the same as physical media. The laws, rules, and practices for digital media should be based on the medium's strengths and weaknesses, not on comparisons to the physical equivalent.
I don't believe there should be secondhand ebooks - it makes no sense. It would destroy publishing prices. There are valid reasons to buy brand new over secondhand in the physical realm, but in the digital world they are identical.
Digital media needs to be sold with prices and conditions that protect consumers' rights as well as the rights of the content producers to run their businesses.
If publishers want us to treat ebooks as disposable then they should be designing their business processes around making ebooks very cheap. Conversely, if consumers want all the rights available to physical books as well as extra rights afforded by a digital medium, then they should be willing to pay a fair price. Otherwise we all lose the books that will be written in future that can't be published due to lack of a market.