Quote:
Originally Posted by braver
The contents is the same, and the fact that you don't think you're entitled to it in all possible shapes means you're still in the 20th century, or are a perfect customer for RIAA and the like, or both.
The 21st century model should be, you buy content at a certain a level of quality, and then are entitled to it in all media forms.
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Don't have time to read this entire thread so hope I'm not repeating a point that somebody else has made, but I'll go along with your argument only to the extent of the US copyright law, i.e. *you* are entitled to convert the content you own to whatever media form you choose to use it in. IMO you are *not* entitled to make somebody else do the work for you. Unless you pay them, of course.
I don't have a theoretical objection to your earlier statement, that you'd be willing to pay a nominal fee to cover the OCR, etc. (which I will categorize as a discount on the ebook version, since I feel certain that's how it would be implemented, were it to be implemented at all) but I see very definite practical problems with it. How does the ebook seller verify that you do, in fact, own the paper version? Even if they sold you the paper version (as Amazon did) how do they know you still have it? And the justification for discounting the ebook version is that it's *your* paper version in a different media, right? So the two versions must be tied to justify the discount-if you get rid of your paper version then you should get rid of your ebook version, too. Otherwise you're doing nothing except cheating the seller.
Given these problems I'd say that the copyright law is the best way to go. If you want to do the OCR then you have the right to convert your paper versions into ebooks. But I think it'll turn out to be more work than you think-I have yet to see an OCR program that doesn't require proof-reading & correction afterwards. Personally, my time is worth more than the cost of a second version (in ebook format) if I really want a book in ebook format. (Mostly I buy new books in ebook format but see little reason to duplicate those I already have in paper version. Except where it's part of a series-then it's most convenient to have the entire series in the same format. I do the same with hard cover vs. paperback, too.)