Lee, at this time Ownshelf only has Fb to login. It is only used for sign on and your friends graph, not for storing book or personal data (or spam). We have a G+ sign on coming later. The friends graph is an important part of how to discover and find books.
Itās supply and demand. If you donāt buy a book and tell the publisher why, they may change.
Just in the last few years, weāve seen a dramatic shift in DRM strategies by some of the major publishers because of so much feedback so it can be done.
Personally, if an ebook by one of the big publishers is too expensive, I put myself on the waiting list for the ebook or paper version at the local library. That way, Iām paying in waiting time instead of a book I canāt afford.
But the alternate setup must be agreed upon by the copyright holder, or itās just another pirate setup with delusions of grandeur.
I donāt understand what this has to do with what I said but OK.
So? Pirate setups with delusions of grandeur work great. They get me the content I want at an unbeatable price with less inconvenience than any other method. Come to think of it Iām not sure I understand what the word ādelusionsā is doing in there. āPirate setups with grandeurā will work fine I think.
Not only that, thereās not a lot of evidence that piracy actually impacts revenue to copyright holders so Iām not sure why I should hate on piracy just because itās piracy.
Finally, as long as multinational corporations are dictating copyright law without any allowances made for the actual stated purpose of such law Iām not sure why there should be any moral onus on me to respect such law.
Yes, of course ā at least in the absence of substantial legal reform. I donāt know what gave you the impression that I disagreed.
Thanks, but no thanks. I will point out that my local library, Amazon.com, the little indie bookshop down the street, and Barnes & Noble all seem to be willing to let me ādiscover and find booksā without my āfriends graph,ā suggesting that personal information isnāt necessary for that activity.
If I cannot use your website without giving you my āfriends graph,ā which is absolutely personal data, I am reluctant to use your website at all. If you want to define important data about me as ānot personal dataā and be cute and cagey (āan important partā) about how that data will be used, I canāt encourage the use of your service by others, either.
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Ownshelf is a mass-market product, and not meant for everyone. It is interesting to note that BoingBoing, Reddit, Hackernews, and PiratePartiet referrals convert to Ownshelf users via Fb at a higher rate than the general web user. Tech Geeks already have no probs sharing books with one another. But when your mom or neighbor asks for an ebook suggestion to read, Ownshelf comes in handy.
Unlike the writer of this column, a vast majority of writers donāt have their books and backlist in bookstores, and they donāt have movie deals. If money doesnāt come from the sale of their ebooks, thereās no money coming, period.
If readers donāt support writers by buying their books, writers will stop writing, and readers will have far less to read. Everyone will be poorer for that.
Shouldnāt you say that you will never license e-books? Since ābuyingā them in a first-sale sense is not something that theyāre offering.
Copyright ALLOWS the publisher to license rather than sell you the book. But it certainly doesnāt compel publishers to do so. Because when you buy a copyrighted item the restrictions on what you can do are limited by the details and balance of rights worked out in the law, rather than a contract of adhesion. The āfirst saleā and āfair useā sections of the copyright law give a legal owner of a copy certain rights and limits some of the rights remaining to the copyright holder. When you license something by contrast, the only real limit on the terms that can be imposed are that they not be āunconscionable,ā and that is a very high bar. And the difference is NOT one of media. ISTR that there have been a few paper works (specialized journals or technical works) that were licensed rather than sold.
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THIS is why, I generally only buy my ebooks from Baen. No DRM, multiple formats, and you donāt have to buy it again when you change platforms. Even if they DO also sell them on Amazon and B&N. . . . They treat you like a customer that has made a PURCHASE, not a license. . .
To quote:
http://www.baenebooks.com/t-DRM.aspx
Digital Rights Management (DRM) and our reasons for not implementing it
Digital rights management restricts the number of formats in which you can enjoy electronic media you have purchased. At Baen, we believe that when you purchase an Ebook, you should be able to access that book however you choose. For that reason, we sell only DRM-free Ebooks ā when you purchase one you have access to any and all formats we offer.
What does that mean for you? If you get a new eReader that uses a different format than the one you had when you built your Baen Ebook library, you can download your Ebooks again in the new format for no additional charge. If you have several eReaders, you can download your books to them all; this lets you read your favorite Baen Ebooks when youāre at home with your favorite reader, on the go with your mobile device, or anywhere with any other device.
Once youāve purchased the Ebook, youāve paid for your right to enjoy it. We try to make it as easy to do that as we can. As long as you purchased it through our website and it shows up in your My Books list you can download to your heartās content.
Baen also licenses but does not sell ebooks. They donāt use DRM and they have nicer license terms, but it is still a license.
I canāt find any information on Baenās web site about resale? Do they permit it?
For what itās worth under the honor system, small scale resale canāt really be stopped of course. However, commercial and open resale of Baen ebooks could be addressed legally.
I think the framing of the debate on Boingboing is pretty disingenuous. DRM-free ebooks are obviously great, but Iāve never seen a coherent explanation of how DRM-free ebooks could or should permit full āfirst sale doctrineā.
Iāve been a customer since the late 90s. Even in checkout, it says youāre purchasing an Ebook. No license, no terms. . .
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