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Old 04-03-2016, 07:06 AM   #61
HarryT
eBook Enthusiast
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Doonge View Post
Yes and yes, depending on context.

Renting is cheaper than buying for short-lived uses. Of course if you want somehing that you will use all your life, renting is more expensive. When I go in vacations somewhere, I rent a car, I don't buy one. Which was the context I used: I'd buy DRM books if those were one time reading only, and preferably cheap.

And when you "buy" an unDRMable ebook (which doesn't exists), it means you don't even own the bits of the ebook. Thus you rent. It means some software it always supervising your "property".

I've read here that some publishing houses went down and their ebook were only partially (if at all) managed by other houses. As a result, people lost parts of their library, and I don't recall if refund were planned (I think they got some coupons to use in the new publishing house only).
That doesn't sound like owning stuff.
Why not just use the correct terminology, and say that you are buying a licence for the book? I really see no need to mis-use words such as "rent". An ebook licence is not a rental agreement by any definition of the word.
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