eBook trading?

[mobileMike]

Hi,

I have read several books in Microsoft's eBook format and I really enjoyed the pleasure. Now I am done with the books and I have no use for them. I do not reread books unless they are reference material.

If these were paperback books, I would sell, trade, or give them to someone else. A paperback was not published for just one reader. They are not paperback, so what are the ethics behind selling, trading, giving an eBook to someone else if you intend on removing it from your system?

I am not talking about buying a single copy of an eBook and giving it to more than one person. I think that would be wrong.

I realize the writer would not receive any royalty for the second-hand sale, but do they receive anything from used book stores either?

I am talking about ethics not legality. I realize the agreement when I purchased the book was that it is just for my enjoyment. I think ethics are determined by the common practices of the masses.

Maybe this is a good poll question. :?:

- mike

[jizmo]

A net second-hand eBook-store would be a really stimulating idea, but I reckon it wouldn't be possible. In eBooks you pay for the right to read the book and in normal books you pay for the actual material.

And what would prevent people from selling the eBooks for a formal price of 1 cent, making a "personal" copy of the book and then reselling it?

/jizmo

[spursdude]

Also with a paper book, it can't be pirated and sent out to millions. With an ebook, you may benevolently give it to one friend, and it may end up being sold or just given to a whole lot more people.

[szamot]

Also with a paper book, it can't be pirated and sent out to millions. With an ebook, you may benevolently give it to one friend, and it may end up being sold or just given to a whole lot more people.

well technically you could photocopy the book and distribute it to millions but of course that would cost more than the book is worth. You could also scan a book and distribute it in electronic format. The point is you could do it but not as easily. Any lawyers reading this - do you have some wisdom to shed on this in plain English. I don’t know – can you sell your own PC with OS on it. Technically you are not allowed but people do it all the time.

[Kati Compton]

Also with a paper book, it can't be pirated and sent out to millions. With an ebook, you may benevolently give it to one friend, and it may end up being sold or just given to a whole lot more people.

Are you responsible for the actions of your friend? Personally, I think you *should* be able to sell software/eBooks/etc/purchased downloaded music/etc. to other people as if it were a real belonging (ie, no cheating and keeping a copy). But then we get into the whole issue that the companies selling these things do *not* want them to be "belongings", they want them to be licenses.

I'd like to think that if everybody played fair and didn't pirate these things, it *would* be legal. However, I think that companies really do want a way to charge more, and requiring you to buy a new copy of an OS with every computer (even if your old computer is going in the basement and will never see the light of day again, or you throw it out), or limiting your "license" for an eBook, etc., is an easy way to do it.