Quote:
Originally Posted by petermillard
are DRMd eBooks only a 'license to read' or do they simply tie a downloaded book to a specific reader or (group of) readers, much like iTunes Music Store downloads?
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The latter, but some people here like to call it a "lease" because pretty much inevitably the time will come when you can no longer read it, due to either the publisher going out of business, or you no longer owning an appropriate device on which to read it.
In reality, you have pretty much the same rights with an eBook that you do with a paper book - you "buy" the media, not the "ownership" of the contents. The only real difference with eBooks is that there's no 2nd hand market for eBooks, so again some people's argument is that eBooks should cost less to reflect the lack of residual value compared to a paper book.