Quote:
Originally Posted by tcv
A p-book incident happened to me last week that has me wondering if it can somehow be replicated with an e-book?
Here's how it worked:
My wife and I are in Boston. I am working remotely and she's visiting her company. (We both live in Houston.) While in the office, she spied a bunch of small paperbacks folks left around for other people to read. It's an informal library, of sorts, though without any sort of organization. You read a book and liked it? Drop it off and maybe someone else will enjoy it.
She picked up two paperbacks (p-backs?), Wicked among them. I've seen the book off-and-on for years, but didn't truly know what it was about. The back-cover intrigued me. I read it and then the book. Wow. And I never really cared for The Wizard of Oz.
The publisher has made no money off my reading of this book, however it has definitely put me on to more titles by the same author. The publisher will get something from me.
But in an entirely e-world, which is what many of us envision and some of us want, how would my wife have discovered Wicked at all? I don't imagine people will have left flash-drives or SD cards of books on a shelf for other employees to peruse. Even if they did, wouldn't the DRM have prevented me from reading the book? (And were there no DRM, would that not be "piracy?") And what if I didn't have the right reader?
What's more, aren't some publishers especially keen to stop this kind of loaning? To them, my reading of Wicked is a lost sale. Even if I wind up buying most books by Maguire, I still will not have bought that FIRST one.
So, I am back to my original question: Could this p-moment -- this discovering of an unknown (to me) gem of a book on a shelf populated with other enjoyed books -- be replicated entirely in e?
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Maybe someday, yes. Keep in mind that before paperbacks were an option, people didn't leave their pbooks lying around just anywhere either. Granted, it was a long time ago, but there was a time when actually owning a BOOK was an option only to the very wealthy. It's just that it was so long ago, we no longer think about it.
I think we will all agree that it's not piracy if I leave my validly purchased pbook behind for someone else to read. The big reason why is simply because, in leaving the book behind, I have given up my own right to the use of that particular book. If I want to read it again ... I either have to borrow someone else's copy or buy it again.
So, yes ... I can envision a time when there will be one publishing standard format for all e-books, and many places will have wireless "leave a book, take a book" spots where, for the donation of one of your books, you can take a copy of one left there. It's just that once you "leave" your book, you don't have it on your ebook account anymore.
It could be done. I have no idea when or if it will ever happen, but it would be a wonderful thing if it was.