Quote:
Originally Posted by bwana
When you buy something new and shiny, you pay more for it than if it were used. But the same analogy does not hold for digital content or intellectual property. Can you buy a 'used song' on itunes? a 'used album' a 'used ebook'?
If the concept of used does not apply, the the concept of 'new' cannot be defined. Since neither used nor new exist, then buying any intellectual property does not fit our understanding of the world.
But you say, we pay to go to school. Is that not the purchase of intellectual property? I would say no, it is like skiing or tennis lessons, you are buying a process.
I think this aspect of DRM has been neglected. Although DRM as it exists today is to prevent the use of 'unlicensed' media, its full potential has not been explored.
If I buy a song/book from iTunes that is new, I would pay real money for it, today that price is ~$1/$14. Apple could buy it back from me for 90 apple cents. Apple could revoke the song from my library. Apple cents could only be used to buy 'used' music.
Since apple knows i bought the song from them, then would know I am not selling them back a song that I got from elsewhere. Apple would only buy back songs they had originally sold to me. I could then use my apple cents to buy 'used' music from apple. By making the purchase of music easy, piracy is stunted. This model also recognizes the fact that the distribution of music electronically is far cheaper than traditional methods and therefore price should be decreased accordingly.
|
Why would Apple et al sell you a digital file you can easily copy and store where ever you like and then buy the original back from you so you can repeat the process ad infinitum?
Personally I think people have to give up on this idea of "I should be able to re-sell my digital file". I simply don't see it ever working when we all know there is no way to ensure someone sells their original and only copy of the file.
Instead, I see the only workable solution being pricing digital media such that people don't care that they can't re-sell it later. Surely it must be a small minority of people who pay $1 for an itunes song and then complain because they can't sell it to someone on ebay for 80 cents when they are done with it.
I think the same will go for books even though I think the final price will generally be somewhat more than $1 per book. I think the market will find a price that is workable(I'd say around $5-9.99) and people will just have to accept that there wont be any major type of second hand market for digital files.
Cheers,
PKFFW