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.
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You seem to have the seeds of a very good idea here (which will probably guarantee that the industry doesn't adopt it for at least another five years!), but it does get round one of the biggest issues for me with DRM - my inability to sell or give away a DRMed product.