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  1.  (9590.1)
    As someone who buys 4-5 eBooks per month nowadays, I have to say that this looks good. It's technically feasible, it's fair and it will probably be rejected by every publishing house because it doesn't incorporate DRM.

    Opinions?

    The eBook User’s Bill of Rights

    The eBook User’s Bill of Rights

    Every eBook user should have the following rights:

    - the right to use eBooks under guidelines that favor access over proprietary limitations
    - the right to access eBooks on any technological platform, including the hardware and software the user chooses
    - the right to annotate, quote passages, print, and share eBook content within the spirit of fair use and copyright
    - the right of the first-sale doctrine extended to digital content, allowing the eBook owner the right to retain, archive, share, and re-sell purchased eBooks
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      CommentAuthortaphead
    • CommentTimeFeb 28th 2011
     (9590.2)
    Hmm. At first glance I'd say the lack of DRM is tricky to reconcile with the resale right.
  3.  (9590.3)
    Yep, the re-selling is the only truly tricky part there.
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      CommentAuthoroddbill
    • CommentTimeFeb 28th 2011
     (9590.4)
    I think we all may need to give up resale rights with a move from physical to digital.

    Resale is an artifact of physicality and/or scarcity.

    The eBook reader itself can be resold. It is an object.

    The eBook files are data. Maybe you don't own them. You don't own the words in your paper books, and never have. You've always been able to resell the medium, but you've never owned the message.

    You could probably sell an eBook reader that was full of books, the same way you sell your old computer with software on it. As long as you don't try to retain access to the words (as you don't have access to the words after reselling a paper book), you are likely still on the ethical side of the grey market.
  5.  (9590.5)
    oddbill:

    I wholeheartedly agree on that, and although I've made over 200€ since last spring by emptying my bookshelf to an used bookstore, I would be willing to give up the resale rights. This has one requirement, though: the ebook prices must come down.

    Tying the reselling rights to a device is very very tricky and open to abuse. There's nothing that would prevent me from buying used ebook readers, copying them full of books and selling them at a higher price, time after time again.

    I'm not against DRM on a principle, I'm against DRM because it usually bloody sucks and annoys only legal users of the bought content. Case in point, Kindle. I have a ton of books there and my fiance is thinking about getting a Kindle too - but where is the chance to lend books to her? This is how we roll - one of us buys a book and reads it, and lends it to the other, and I'd hazard to say that this is not some super niche media consumption model. DRM has to allow for loaning out your books, and giving them permanently to someone else.

    Oh, and region restrictions must go.
    • CommentAuthorEmperor
    • CommentTimeMar 1st 2011
     (9590.6)
    I don't get my Kindle until Friday but have been nosing around (and I already have enough eBooks to fill it).

    You can actually lend people books you've bought for your Kindle, see here. It is described on Amazon.com. That was in December but a lot of lending groups have sprung up - see this article on BookLending.com.

    I think OddBill's thoughts on the topic are interesting - I don't necessarily object to DRM if it implements measures that make it more like a physical book so that the author's right to make money from their creation is protected (obviously this counts for work in copyright). So if I lend an eBook to someone, it is no longer on my reading device until it is returned. If they introduced a feature where you could give a book to a friend then there needs to be a way to stop me retaining a copy (so basically a permanent loan, so there are mechanisms to cope with this). I think the 1984 debacle has made Amazon take a step back on what it means to "buy" something, so you are actually buying it not renting it, because if you are merely renting then the price is going to have to drop. I do find the pricing odd though, you can often find the paperback cheaper than the eBook, which is silly, just did a quick check and the first one I looked up is like that - on Amazon.co.uk Iain M. Bank's Transition is £5 for the paperback and £6.99 for the Kindle (so the pb also falls into free delivery), the eBook being only £1 lower than the pb's RRP. In fact scrolling down most of his books cost more for the electronic version, so you are paying more for the convenience of now having to find shelf space for the book.
  7.  (9590.7)
    Case in point, Kindle. I have a ton of books there and my fiance is thinking about getting a Kindle too - but where is the chance to lend books to her? This is how we roll - one of us buys a book and reads it, and lends it to the other...

    Set it up so that both Kindle's are on the same account therefore if one of you buys a book the other one can download it too.
    Seeing as how you two are engaged I'm guessing that you'd be able to trust each other enough to not screw the whoever's credit card you're using to buy books with. (That's what my wife and I have done.)
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      CommentAuthorJ.Brennan
    • CommentTimeMar 2nd 2011
     (9590.8)
    I have a Nook. It has a lending feature that lets another Nook user "borrow" a book of yours for two weeks. I haven't played with it too much yet, but I like it in theory. The only trouble is not all books are available for lending.

    The rights that concern me are mainly 1 and 2. I'm not sure how much booksellers make on repurchases, but I'd like to be able to keep what I buy down the line. I'd like the option to change my device or shop from a different store and not lose my digital library.
  9.  (9590.9)
    Warped Savant:

    Yeah, we considered it, but it just feels clunky and annoying. We have separate finances and tracking the credit card purchases is annoying as it is now. Plus it just shouldn't be that hard.
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      CommentAuthorFauxhammer
    • CommentTimeMar 2nd 2011
     (9590.10)
    I hear that Kindle booksharing will go live at some point this year.
  11.  (9590.11)
    Vornaskotti -- Well, I don't really know what to say then. Maybe once you two are married (is it going to be sometime soon?) you'll join finances... Maybe if you two set aside a specific credit card for Kindle purchases it'd be easier to track? (Probably not, but maybe...)
    Other than that, I really have no other ideas for you other than trading Kindle's whenever one of you wants to read a book that the other has... but that would be really annoying as that would require you both to finish reading the others' book at the same time.
  12.  (9590.12)
    Well, not really going to get married or going to join finances, but that's kind of beside the point :)

    Anyways, it's a little known fact that apparently Amazon/Kindle does allow lending out books: http://www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/display.html?nodeId=200549320

    I have quite a list of purchases and not a single one of them has the loaning enabled. Moreover, you can loan the book out once, for 14 days, and that's it. I call bullshit. This is DRM done exactly wrong.

    Fauxhammer: I'm interested in what you are offering and I'd like to subscribe to your newsletter! Do you have a source on that or any further info, my Google Fu revealed nothing.

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