Thread: CNN: Why can't you 'give' an e-book?
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Old 07-26-2010, 06:13 PM   #12
Elfwreck
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Quote:
Originally Posted by GA Russell View Post
My point is that if the eBook cost a trivial sum, people wouldn't care that their liberty to transfer the license was restricted.
They'd still want to be able to give them as gifts. And prizes.

Imagine: online book club recommends a book a week, and at the end of the year, buys an ebook reader & 10 books for whoever posted the most reviews. Except you can't buy 10 ebooks for someone else; the book club can't pitch in and get their star reviewer "the 10 books we voted on to start next year's reading list."

The lack of transferable books, both new & used, is one of the big flaws in publisher's approach to ebook distribution. It's one of the big reasons cited why people don't think ebooks are "real books"--you can't (legitimately) give them away. Can't share them.

Ebooks, as mainstream publishers & most ebookstores would like to arrange them, are entirely selfish purchases.
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