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Originally Posted by stumped
Maybe convenience beats free. Spotify etc are not uncrackable, but what the subscription buys is ease to use, so millions of people pay a small monthly fee instead of going through the hassle of stealing and hoarding.
Pre Amazon, pre kindles, no one I knew actually bought books, that was something only rich people did. You wanted something to read, you joined a library...
I would prefer a less cutthroat world for all media, where creatives could get enough from a share of a streaming, rental, model for them to go on creating, and no one would need to own personal media copies of stuff.
Compared with the current winner takes all model of a handful of superstar authors, musicians, actors while everyone else starves.
Ok. Enough of that, back to reading dystopias...
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You are off by a few decades there. I've been buying books since the mid 70's, even as a poor student using my lunch money, so it's certainly not pre Amazon, pre Kindles only the rich bought books. My 1976 paperback copy of Elric of Melnibone cost $1.25, well within the means of most middle class people at the time.
What made books more accessible was the rise of the Mall bookstores. I bought books at the Waldenbooks Books (started 1962) and B. Daltons (started 1966), both of which were at my local mall. The mall bookstores really expanded the market for hardback and paperback books in the US. Heck, my local mall even had a library branch in the basement. In the mid 80's big box stores like Barnes and Noble and Borders took over the market.