Quote:
Originally Posted by HarryT
I find that an extremely strange concept, I must say. You could equally say that a paper book is just ink marks on paper until you "actually read it". What makes a paper book have more "inherent value" than a data file? A book is simply an information storage device.
|
It is, indeed.
Actually a paper book has more "
material value" than a file.
The pbook is a
real thing, an electronic copy of it it's just an ephymereal recording of a concept.
What I mean is: while in
paper and ink world it is correct to think about "copies" (like in copies sold, remainder copies, illegal photo-copies), it isn't so in the digital world, where the same idea of "copy" has no meaning (e.g., when a file is open in MS word, at least two different copies are born from the
blue nowhere: the file on disk, a second temporary file, and a copy in RAM, which in turn can be copied in the swap and in the hybernate file... Are they "illegal copies", according to DCMCA?).
To develop a real efficient business model for digital content, we must be able to
think different.
And to think about
access to content rather than
copies bought is a big step forward.