What happens to your ebook library when you die?

[brecklundin]

With all the issues over DRM, I haven't ever read any discussion about what about when a person dies. Can you pass the books onto another person?

I suspect this is not as simplistic a question as I see on the surface.

[Ravensknight]

I suspect that by the time I die, the medium will have changed enough that this topic won't even be relevant.

That being said, my brother gets all my scifi/fantasy crap when I'm gone. Unless I have some nephews/nieces who want it more :-)

[Maggie Leung]

When I'm dead, I won't care.

[Kali Yuga]

There isn't much clarity about data, let alone digital purchases, with estates.

For example, if you kick off, your email provider may be very reluctant to give anyone (including your executor) access to your email. If you leave the password around, though, they don't particularly care who logs in.

So, I'd assume that if you left your account information and password in your papers, someone could (at least unofficially) access those titles. I'm not sure if the ownership can be transferred to another account.

It's possible something is buried in the various agreements -- I'd guess in most cases you cannot officially transfer purchases. But it probably varies from one vendor to the next.

On the plus side, though, you won't be foisting boxes of books onto your loved ones. Do you know how heavy those things are?

One minor tip: Don't put passwords into your last will & testament. Those are public documents, so anyone can read it.

[Lady Fitzgerald]

If I'm still single by then (and I probably will be), my grandkids will get everything I own. If they aren't interested in the books (I'm thinkin' they will since my son is an avid reader) then they will go to my sister. I will buy paper books and scan them before I will buy the equivalent e-book if it is DRMed so that won't be an issue when I kick the bucket.

[SensualPoet]

It's just like physical books ... you can't take 'em with you.

[kindlekitten]

Originally Posted by Kali Yuga

There isn't much clarity about data, let alone digital purchases, with estates.

For example, if you kick off, your email provider may be very reluctant to give anyone (including your executor) access to your email. If you leave the password around, though, they don't particularly care who logs in.

So, I'd assume that if you left your account information and password in your papers, someone could (at least unofficially) access those titles. I'm not sure if the ownership can be transferred to another account.

It's possible something is buried in the various agreements -- I'd guess in most cases you cannot officially transfer purchases. But it probably varies from one vendor to the next.

On the plus side, though, you won't be foisting boxes of books onto your loved ones. Do you know how heavy those things are?

One minor tip: Don't put passwords into your last will & testament. Those are public documents, so anyone can read it.

it's only a public document when your executor has filed it with the probate clerk. hopefully if you do leave passwords, the executor is smart enough to change them all before filing

[Worldwalker]

My ebooks stay right where they are, ready for whoever I happen to will them to, just like all the rest of my stuff. Of course, the fact that I will not buy a DRM-restricted ebook has a lot to do with this.

[Rich_D]

The first thing I do when I buy an ebook is strip the DRM, so whoever gets my reader, gets my books!

[BenLee]

Originally Posted by SensualPoet

It's just like physical books ... you can't take 'em with you.

[neilmarr]

"My registration details are username,brecklundin; password ch...aaaarrrrgggghhhh..."

[astra]

Originally Posted by brecklundin

What happens to your ebook library when you die?

Who cares?
I don't.

[Steven Lyle Jordan]

Originally Posted by neilmarr

"My registration details are username,brecklundin; password ch...aaaarrrrgggghhhh..."

You can always will the hardware that holds the ebooks to someone... just as you'd will the books themselves. That's assuming your books aren't in the fog somewhere.

[DawnFalcon]

Originally Posted by Kali Yuga

One minor tip: Don't put passwords into your last will & testament. Those are public documents, so anyone can read it.

Sure, but you can refer to a secondary document to be released only in the event...or in my case, a particular encrypted file which can only be found with physical access to the device or backup DVD's in question.

[jlg432]

If your ebook collection only resides within the reader then whoever gets your reader has the ebooks.

As for DRM - once the ebooks have been authorized on your reader again - whoever get the reader gets the ebooks.

If something should happen to the reader and you lose the internal data then you lose access to all DRM material unless the account is still in place on the internet and you know the access user id, password and in some cases the Credit Card Number used to create or purchase the ebooks. So as long as your inheritor knows your user id, email account and password I believe DRM such as ADE should continue to work. It is only required for giving a device permission via the ADE software.

So even if you archive all your DRM and non DRM ebooks to a DVD - the Non drm should be able to be used by anyone providing the reader supports the format. The DRM ebooks would have to go through their respective authentication process before they could be accessed. For ADE that would require the ADE software installed on a PC using the correct userid and password of the original account and then the ereader device would have to be connected to the PC via USB and authorized by the ADE app (not all devices use ADE) and then yiou would have to migrate the reloaded ADE ePud ebooks to the external reader via ADE. As long as there is no biometrics involved this should work.

I used ADE as an example - this is probably the same for other DRM products that are standalone.

As for Amazon and the Kindle - this is probably not the same unless you have a joint account - Most kindle books purchased from Amazon are tied into that account - can that account be passed on to another family member - I don't know.
As some others have stated - some DRM can be removed from some ebooks in which case they can be archived on external media left to anyone they want.

These are just my opinions.

John