A Fairer Fair Use?

[CyGuy]

I know this has come up before and some people reject the obvious truth of the matter but I will repeat it anyway:

Renting a DVD cost about $1. Purchasing a DVD cost about $10. It is clear that the price indicates what kind of transaction occurred. Selling an ebook for the same price as purchasing a pbook clearly indicates an actual sale took place, not a rental or license. If all ebooks were $1 there might be room to argue that a license was issued as opposed to a purchase...

[wodin]

Originally Posted by Belfaborac

I didn't say that at all. I said I want ebooks to work exactly the same as paper books. From the context in which it is written - that being the original question posed - that can only be misconstrued to mean that I want ebooks to be exactly like physical books if you try really, really hard.

You said:

Originally Posted by Belfaborac

I want my ebooks to work exactly the way paper books do: pay for it, receive it, do whatever I want with it. End of story.

So you want your ebooks to work exactly the way paper books do AND receive the added functionality (ability to make backups, and carry thousands of them in your pocket) and you want to pay less because it doesn’t cost as much to produce, ship, store and distribute them?

Oh wait, you didn’t say you want to pay less, but you did say you want to receive it, and the added functionality there is you can receive it instantly and without having to drive down to the B&M. So take your choice, do you want ebooks or do you want pbooks. There are tradeoffs both ways.

[plib]

Originally Posted by wodin

So you want your ebooks to work exactly the way paper books do AND receive the added functionality (ability to make backups, and carry thousands of them in your pocket) and you want to pay less because it doesn’t cost as much to produce, ship, store and distribute them?

Let me think...

Yes.

[wodin]

Originally Posted by plib

Let me think...

Yes.

The prosecution rests!

[plib]

Originally Posted by wodin

The prosecution rests!

Best thing they could do.

[Belfaborac]

Originally Posted by wodin

So take your choice, do you want ebooks or do you want pbooks. There are tradeoffs both ways.

I've made my choice, in that I buy mainly ebooks. I also make use of them exactly as I do paper books, excepting the uses which a non-physical medium does not allow. I give them away and if I'm ever asked I will happily lend them out. If either is a crime, then, like I've said elsewhere, I'm perfectly content to technically be a criminal.

[Kumabjorn]

Originally Posted by Belfaborac

I've made my choice, in that I buy mainly ebooks. I also make use of them exactly as I do paper books, excepting the uses which a non-physical medium does not allow. I give them away and if I'm ever asked I will happily lend them out. If either is a crime, then, like I've said elsewhere, I'm perfectly content to technically be a criminal.

Let's hope you'll be able to maintain that attitude the day they ship you out to Ila because FBI demands to set an example for European violators of US copyright. And we all know how vigorously the Norwegian government is able to withstand demands from Washington.

[Belfaborac]

I can't really see it happening, even though the government is certainly perfectly servile every time Big Brother picks up the phone. I might be wrong of course, in which case I'll hopefully be allowed to serve my allotted time alongside speed demons, drunk drivers and the like in an open prison, making pallets and other supremely useful things. I've always been quite handy with a hammer, so I might even enjoy it.

[Kumabjorn]

What if the Americans demand that you share a cell with Breivik? How fun would that be?

[Belfaborac]

Now that really wouldn't ever happen. If it did, there would soon be only a single occupant again.

[Kumabjorn]

Ahh, but the experienced one or the rookie?

[Belfaborac]

Let me put it this way: his military training is all in his head, while mine is real.

[Shaggy]

Originally Posted by wizwor

How would you feel about a license server infrastructure for ebooks?

I'm not sure what the point would be in yet another DRM scheme. The "pirates" are just going to strip it off so their copies don't need tokens.

[GreenMonkey]

Server based DRM is even worse than offline DRM.

At least with offline DRM - I can find some old hardware and access the books. For example - 5-10 years from now - B&N uses your credit card number as a key for the DRM - find an old copy of the B&N software, an old version of Windows 7, open your books up as long as you have the info (credit card number). Still works. Would theoretically work 30 years from now just like software on a Windows 3.1/DOS computer still works - doesn't depend on anything from the outside (except for maybe tech support for the software).

Server-based functionality relies not on you having the hardware - but on some company hosting a server that is still there.

What happens? Company goes out of business...servers cost money to run and are shut down...etc. No one keeps the servers up forever, keeps the DRM software updated forever, etc. Thus the playsforsure debacle with the DRM'd music from Microsoft.

I absolutely refuse to buy anything that relies on remote-server DRM, unless it is only a couple of dollars - like 5% or 10% or less of the original price. Even then I feel like it's a rental...because it is. Because you're "buying" something that is really a rental - until the servers aren't there any more, or the device isn't supported any more, or the software isn't supported any more...etc.

[StephenM]

The only good DRM is a dead DRM.

And by "dead DRM", I mean the file either has no DRM, or it is cracked and easily removed. Preferably the former.

Unless you are someone like Stephen King or J. K. Rowling, I would expect that obscurity is a bigger problem than piracy. If I ever manage to get a first book published, I will probably put it on the torrent sites myself.