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Originally Posted by ApK
You are merely getting a license when you 'buy' a paperback, too. Make no mistake. Read the copyright page. Some of the things you can't do with 'your' book are spelled out there, others are spelled out in copyright law.
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What's written on the copyright page is irrelevant; it often contradicts copyright law. Standard text often says things like "no part of this work may be reproduced in any way without written permission from the publisher," which is a lie--reviews, parodies, and educational uses are allowed without permission.
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You are buying the paper and glue, but you only get a limited set of rights to the content.
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Yes, and people are asking for those same limited rights with their digital purchases.
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An ebook can be instantly replaced as needed (say, if you forget it when you go on a trip), for free. Can the paperback?
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Very few, possibly no, ebook stores guarantee replacement copies for life. Fictionwise is down to insisting you must download within a couple of hours or you may lose your purchase.
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The ebook can exist for you in several places at once, for your convenience, at no extra charge. Can a paperback?
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The ability to copy it into several devices at once is a permission granted by the publisher; it's not allowed by copyright law. This would have some merit if the terms of the license were spelled out in detail; as it is, people think there's some different law that applies to ebooks.
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You can carry hundreds or thousands of ebooks in your pocket, so you can have almost unlimited choice at any free reading moment. How many paperbacks can you carry?
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I can carry hundreds of songs in my *head*, without any mechanical device. Does that mean I have the right to perform or distribute them at will? Storage capacity has nothing to do with copyright law.
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You can buy almost any new ebook almost anywhere you happen to be, and have it to read instantly.
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Well, as long as you happen to be in the US. Many new ebooks aren't available in the UK or Australia, and many more aren't available in countries where English isn't the main language spoken.
I can order any paper book Amazon offers from almost anywhere in the world. Can I do that with ebooks?
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You can change the font on an ebook to suit your needs with the push of a button.
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Depends on the reader. Early ebook readers had limited abilities with this; that's a matter of hardware and software, not a trait of "ebooks."