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Through all these long discussions, being just a reader, I really don't see any upside to copyright being abolished. Yes, copyright terms are too long, I agree. Yes, there are some problems on the fair usage side. But basically the system is working, it should be tweaked, not abolished.
I don't mind paying for books, it is an appreciation for the author's work. Will donations work to bring in as much? I seriously doubt that it would amount to more than a tiny fraction, given human nature. Yes, there would be other ways for authors to make money. The point is, why should we the readers force a new system down authors' and publishers' throats just because we could obtain their books by stealing them? It is their stuff, in the end, they should get to decide what to do with it. Readers only have rights when they are buyers.
Yes, authors and publishers will have to adjust their business model. Badgering users with DRM and overly restrictive lending policies is not the right way to do it. But the system as such is not the problem. Abolishing copyright would destroy hundreds of thousands of jobs in the US alone in an otherwise future proof industry (people will always be reading). Fix the system, don't throw the baby out with the bathwater. What really needs to be fixed is the perception that distributing copyrighted ebooks beyond a small circle of friends and family (the very same ones you handed your pbooks to) and downloading from the darknet is not wrong. It is very wrong.
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