There has been a fair amount in the press recently about e-books and readers such as Kindle and the like, and whether their increasing popularity spells the end for hard copy books (eg. here and here). Personally, I just can't see that happening - the appeal of books is more than just their words, and reading on screen and without the ability to easily flick about doesn't appeal to me. But it occured to me that there's another aspect to book-buying and reading that does not easily translate from print to digital.
If I buy a book, read it and really enjoy it, I often want to lend it to someone else to read. Legally, I can do this because I own the book - which of course is not to say that I own the words. I don't. I have the right to read them and to give the book to others to read, but I largely don't have the right to copy the book and share those copies around.
But if I pay to download an e-book, I am entitled to read it on my device but I am highly unlikely to be allowed to copy the electronic file and give it to someone else. That's because the people that publish e-books want that other person to pay to download their own copy. Whereas with a book, if you give it to someone else there is still only that single copy in existence, if you transfer an electronic file to someone you are creating a second copy - which is exactly the same issue that the music industry has been battling for the last few years with file sharers. I could just give my reader device to someone else with the e-book on it, but that's neither economical or convenient - I'm presumably going to want to hang on to the device to read the next book.
As with the music industry, I assume e-book publishers will try to use a combination of technical security and pricing to protect revenues from e-book downloads - although physical books are so cheap now due to Amazon and other online retailers that I can't see myself being tempted away from the real thing. But the real legal issue here is, again, that copyright laws and the rights granted to owners of copyright were decided way before any concept of the internet existed. I imagine this will just become another battle ground between consumers' expectations and publishers' revenue generating models.
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