Quote:
Originally Posted by leebase
You HAVE to have a "you don't own it" stance with a digital good. Otherwise you get "sell one copy, share infinitely".
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Possibly true. But after making that licensing choice you say the publishers had no other option for, the customer will decide if they want to pay for not owning it, or not own it for free by choosing the library.
The positive from the publishers viewpoint - licensing - is a negative from the customers viewpoint. Likewise, the positive from the customers viewpoint - libraries - is a negative from the publishers viewpoint. Sometimes it takes a long time to play out, but in the end, the customer usually wins. Because it is the customer who makes the ultimate choice - to buy or not to buy. If the current conversation is "more customers are borrowing from the libraries these days" then it is the customer who is making that decision, not the publisher. The publishers can try to remove the ability for the customer to make a choice. How often does THAT work? For those of us who have children, how well does "No, because I said so" really guide a decision you are trying to influence?