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Originally Posted by Sporadic
Yeah, but those used books in perfect condition are rare.
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perfect condition used books are rare, but
very good condition used books are actually pretty easy to find, and honestly if it's just a question of a crease on the cover where it was opened, i don't see that it makes much difference.
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With digital copies, every copy is exactly the same as the new one Amazon is selling. There is literally no difference. Nobody would buy new if "used" copies were avaliable for less. If you were allowed to gift them, it would only be a matter of time before people chip in for one copy and just pass it around (it's already happened with Amazon Prime)
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yes, this is true.
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We haven't lost any rights because this is uncharted territory. It's a completely different ballgame with digital goods.
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well, putting aside the resale question for a moment, with drm books at least we *do* lose a lot of rights, including the rights to read a book wherever, whenever and however we choose (unless you remove the drm), and the right to share with a friend / family member like you do with paper books (i can't even count how many authors i've discovered because a friend lent me a paper book, and i couldn't count how many of my own paper books i've lent out either). you are right that to some degree it's different with digital goods, and they do definitely complicate the resale issue (i'm not sure i see a way around that), but there are nonetheless some other assimilated rights (lending books to friends) which we lose as well, and which we should not.