The right to own electronic copies of texts after buying printed copies

[mdp]

Originally Posted by Quoth

There is no moral right to free additional content in a different format / media

I understand (with that «additional») that you mean "you had a tape, you cannot demand a CD-quality file; you had a .avi file, you cannot demand a blu-ray".
Well, in case of books, when you go from publishing printout to file-distributed text (even if rich-text) there is in general a loss of information.

Originally Posted by Quoth

There should be no penalty for a personal format changed copy for only personal use.

Of course. Part of this suggestion is that this should be facilitated. Socially progressive activities should.

Originally Posted by Quoth

There are technical difficulties with a free ebook download. No publisher is obliged to do it even if the technical issues are solved. IMO the only workable solution is a scratch patch on the cover that's a unique one time code. The one time download code system works. The issue is distributing it. If a book is to be scrapped, then the cover is destroyed. Also a tampered scratch patch is obvious and technically easiest place for it is the cover. Maybe on inside to avoid accidental scratch. You scratch the code and you are obligated to pay.
Obviously Online paper sales, or a POS in a bookshop linked to publisher can provide the one time code

What I have seen up to now is the scratch-patch hidden code inside the book (second or third coverpage), giving access to a web-formatted version of the text.
There is a possibility that someone for theft or vandalism may go around scratching codes. But it would be a very noticeable action (especially if you made the scratch-patch BIG).
It would be safer if the code were produced after purchase - but that would be more complex. Nonetheless, also this is something which has been done - one such implementation is part of the procedure for the purchase of credit cards in supermarkets.

Originally Posted by Quoth

Why should publishers go to the bother as it's a small market that wants the ebook when they buy the paper?

I do not believe that it will be a small market. More probably, people are used to make a choice in the alternative terms. If the choice were, when applicable, electronic only or printout+electronic, many would probably use the double format. The second is progressive because it allows for more freedom.

Originally Posted by Quoth

There is no inherent right to an eBook when you buy paper

When I buy a book, I am in general interested in its content and with my purchase I mean to acquire a right to access its text. If I have bought a printout, I state a right of any-way text fruition as per your pt. 2. If I were facilitated about it, all the better.

Originally Posted by Quoth

Amazon will do it before any of the big four do. It is four now?

Sorry - what are they?

[Quoth]

Just to clarify, I personally think paper books should come with a free ebook, but I don't think publishers are obligated to do it.

[curtw]

Originally Posted by Quoth

Just to clarify, I personally think paper books should come with a free ebook, but I don't think publishers are obligated to do it.

And I personally don't think it will happen unless and until Amazon.com starts doing it (like they offer free mp3's with many audio CD purchases).

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by curtw

And I personally don't think it will happen unless and until Amazon.com starts doing it (like they offer free mp3's with many audio CD purchases).

I don't want MP3 when I buy a CD. I can rip the CD to FLAC and have the music in a lossless format so the electronic files are the same as the CD.

[Apache]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

I don't want MP3 when I buy a CD. I can rip the CD FLAC and have the music in a lossless format so the electronic files are the same as the CD.

This.
Apache

[Rand Brittain]

Speaking as someone who makes good-quality ePubs out of texts for money, I feel like my time is worth money.

It's a good idea for publishers to give away ePub copies to people who buy the physical book (for one thing it's an incentive to buy a new copy rather than a used one), but it's not something you automatically have a right to.

[ZodWallop]

I'm all for publishers offering a free e-copy of something purchased in a physical format. It already happens in some cases (CDs from Amazon, DVDs, comics and some book publishers). I don't really see a downside to it from the publisher.

I will say I have never accessed the free e-version of movies because they tend to be tied to some service I am not otherwise interested in.

I do wish they would give purchase to a DRM-free download of the digital format. It was Amazon offering DRM-free MP3s that helped reduce the dominance of iTunes. Yet it feels like nobody learned a lesson from that.

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by ZodWallop

I do wish they would give purchase to a DRM-free download of the digital format. It was Amazon offering DRM-free MP3s that helped reduce the dominance of iTunes. Yet it feels like nobody learned a lesson from that.

A very small number of publishers have gone DRM-free. I have seen no evidence that it has hurt their sales. But as you say, no-one seems to have learned the lessons of DRM-free MP3s.

[Quoth]

It's stupidity, as DRM actually doesn't stop real Pirates at all, they can easily make ebooks from paper ARCs. Exception might be streaming console games.

[DiapDealer]

I still haven't heard a convincing reason why publishers/retailers should spend money to develop infrastructure for securely distributing authorized copies of their products free of charge. "Many might like it very much" isn't going to move many mountains to make that happen. Spending money to lose sales isn't a sound business practice. For periodic promotions, or small shops trying to chip away a client base from the big boys? Sure. Everyday, all day, everyone? Not a chance.

[issybird]

Originally Posted by Quoth

It's stupidity, as DRM actually doesn't stop real Pirates at all, they can easily make ebooks from paper ARCs. Exception might be streaming console games.

DRM doesn’t stop real pirates of the type you cite, but I imagine that it does work to an extent to limit casual sharing of books. There must be a cohort who don’t want to truck with pirates and for whom DRM-stripping is outside their knowledge or capabilities, but who wouldn’t be averse to providing books within their immediate circle. I think especially since we see a lot of people justifying what their rights are in regard to digital media based on their rights in regard to physical media. The whole, “I paid for a license, which means I own the book” schtick. Or, “Since I can order paper books from abroad, that means I’m entitled to circumvent geo-blocking.” And so forth.

But I have nothing to back this up and I do know that Tor didn’t take much of a hit at all when they went DRM-free, so it’s sheer speculation.

[Sirtel]

Geoblocking has no place in the modern world and certainly is a major cause for movie piracy (I know for sure it is in my country). And no, I don't think people living in the US or UK have any right to condemn the rest of the world for circumventing geoblocking. For example, the Netflix library in Estonia is only 15% of the US library, based on a local newspaper article. It's a mystery to me what the movie companies think, still clinging to such an outdated business model.

I have little time for watching movies and Netflix usually provides me with enough material when I do have a moment to spare for watching. But only recently one of my close relatives wanted to watch a new HBO series. She tried to subscribe to HBO, only to learn it's not available to Estonians. Of course she didn't meekly agree that she's not entitled to watch that series, and went to a torrent site instead. I imagine most people in geoblocked countries behave the same way. And that means movie makers are just throwing money away. Yes, many people would pay gladly if the product was available to them.

Rant over.

[Tarana]

Originally Posted by ZodWallop

I will say I have never accessed the free e-version of movies because they tend to be tied to some service I am not otherwise interested in.

Not only that, they disappear. About 1/2 of the free e-version of movies that I have were cut when services started swapping them to other services. What was somewhat of a boon for my disabled brother (he can't handle disks any longer) has been gutted.

I don't want a paper book. I can't read a paper book. What point would it serve for me to buy the paper book, download the ebook and then donate the paperbook somewhere? Doesn't really benefit the author as now someone who might have bought the book now gets a free or reduced price book in the secondary stream.

[JSWolf]

From what I've seen, most of the time when you get a free eBook with the pBook, you end up with a PDF.

[Tarana]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

From what I've seen, most of the time when you get a free eBook with the pBook, you end up with a PDF.

I've only received free ebooks from Audible and yes, they were pdf format.