100 years on

[greenapple]

What's the most exciting thing about living till 2114? It's not driving a flying car or webchatting with aliens. It's the ability to read every single book you've wanted to read now.... for FREE. Everything in Amazon and Kobo at this point in time will be in public domain.

I envy the next, next generation.

[QuantumIguana]

That's assuming that 100 years for now, the copyright period hasn't been extended again and again every time Steamboat Willie's copyright expires. Besides, if I am around in 2114, I am sure there will be plenty of new books that I plan on reading.

I'm a big supporter of the public domain, but if I am alive in 2114, I imagine there will plenty of other things more interesting going on than public domain books. What that will be, I don't know. In 1914, we couldn't predict what life in 2014 would be like. We are living in times that used to be when sci-fi was set! It is truly amazing what we take for granted.

[cromag]

Tastes change. One hundred years from now today's books will be just as dated as the ones from 1914 on Project Gutenberg are today.


And that's a good thing.

[AnemicOak]

Originally Posted by greenapple

It's the ability to read every single book you've wanted to read now.... for FREE. Everything in Amazon and Kobo at this point in time will be in public domain.

How do you figure? In the US and many other places copyright is life of the author plus 70 years (+50 in Canada, +100 in Mexico, etc.) so the only way everything would be PD in 100 years is if all current authors died within the next 30 years. Unless I'm misunderstanding what you're saying?

[speakingtohe]

Originally Posted by greenapple

What's the most exciting thing about living till 2114? It's not driving a flying car or webchatting with aliens. It's the ability to read every single book you've wanted to read now.... for FREE. Everything in Amazon and Kobo at this point in time will be in public domain.

I envy the next, next generation.

I can read a lot of books now for free. Certainly enough that those that I buy are a much smaller portion of my budget than 40 years ago. And you can also own/drive a flying car for probably payments about the same percentage of your income as those who drove the first model T. The have been around for a bit.

Helen

[Billi]

I already have the possibility to read every single book I want to read now. I can use my library - and I have no problem using my wallet.
If it is such a great thing to read these books in 2114 for free then it must be an even greater thing to read them in their time (and pay for them).

[JohnRR]

I believe that most of us are dead in 2114. Read the books you want to read now!

[Anthem]

My Android body is being prepared even as we speak. Hopefully the passage of time is less subjective as an android. Otherwise, it may feel like it takes forever!/seconds!.

Geez, I hope I still want to read these books in 100 years! Do you think my tastes will change as an android!?

Officially worried.

[QuantumIguana]

I'm planning on living forever, by subsisting on the life force of hobos.

[greenapple]

I don't know. The idea that the entire works of writing talents like Stephen King, John Grisham, Dan Brown, Rowling and so on being freely available on Project Gutenberg is intriguing.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by greenapple

What's the most exciting thing about living till 2114? It's not driving a flying car or webchatting with aliens. It's the ability to read every single book you've wanted to read now.... for FREE. Everything in Amazon and Kobo at this point in time will be in public domain.

How on Earth do you reach that extraordinary conclusion? Most countries have a "life+70" copyright term. Why do you think that every author currently writing is going to die within the next 30 years?

[MikeB1972]

Originally Posted by HarryT

How on Earth do you reach that extraordinary conclusion? Most countries have a "life+70" copyright term. Why do you think that every author currently writing is going to die within the next 30 years?

QuantumIguana is going to run out of hobos and use authors instead?

[kacir]

Originally Posted by greenapple

I don't know. The idea that the entire works of writing talents like Stephen King, John Grisham, Dan Brown, Rowling and so on being freely available on Project Gutenberg is intriguing.

By that time there will be other authors, much more relevant, much more popular.
Today you can read Dickens and other great, *great* authors, and yet, relatively few people are interested. Their stuff is not as relevant today as it was 100 or so years ago. Also writing style has changed very much and who knows how they will write in 100 years.

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by greenapple

What's the most exciting thing about living till 2114? It's not driving a flying car or webchatting with aliens. It's the ability to read every single book you've wanted to read now.... for FREE. Everything in Amazon and Kobo at this point in time will be in public domain.

I envy the next, next generation.

What makes you think that? An author only needs to live until 2044, and their works will still be in copyright in 2114.

And what make you think that people in 2114 will want to read lots of books from the late 20th and early 21st century? How many books do you read from, say, 1850 to 1914, compared to the number of books you read that were written in the past 40 years?

[Yapyap]

Considering a lot of my current favourite authors are in their 30s and 40s right now - some good authors even in their 20s! - I'm rather hoping for their sake that their works won't reach the life+70 public domain status in 2114...

I do find it interesting to consider that all the current cool, popular stuff will be a hundred years old and - most of it, other than whatever emerges as a handful of classics from our current era - will seem hopelessly outdated to the people in 2114.