Quote:
Originally Posted by wayrad
Just out of curiosity, what if "lending by public libraries" were substituted for "piracy"? I'm not defending piracy, but it seems that your arguments apply to both.
Of course, one can regard libraries as legitimate on traditional grounds, while still wanting to minimize losses where possible...  |
Libraries purchase one or more copies or, perhaps in the future of eBooks, the rights to them. Those copies are loaned out and after a time, they're taken back. If the work is good enough, a certain number of people (the percentage should be available from some publisher who did a study, I'm sure), buy them for their favorites shelf. I know a lot of people who actually still go to a library and, to my surprise, they all have a favorites shelf and it's pretty well stocked.
I hope that, when digital library subscriptions are commonplace world wide, the same system or a donation system takes the place of the favorites shelf. I suppose time will tell.