Take your point Eddie's...
The problem is I'm (annoyingly) wanting to have my cake and eat it. Why should the advance of medium be associated with degradation of utility?
In actual fact, the first ebook formats (epub, got loads of'em) were and remain DRM-free. Shareable. We could discuss e.g. Crime and Punishment at length here, then I can send you the whole thing in an email and you can read it on your device of interest free. This, for me, is the status quo once the technology is available. Got no problem with that at all.
However what Jobs/Bezos et al then do is say "wait a sec, we're missing a trick here" and design their (usually loss-leading) gizmo to either prevent this or funnel the bulk of content through their storefronts. And everything you buy then comes with DRM, even if you could get it in a free format (by which I don't mean unpaid, just DRM-free).
Your thrift store analogy makes an interesting point though (and is where the US mindset emerges
) - it's sad that ebooks will deprive someone of the right to read those books for less than you paid, and that this will not make any money for good causes. And as for libraries, what do you think this issue will do to them, if we let this pass?
It's a matter of personal choice I think. For me, the more these companies gouge, the more I
I can't play that cd in the car because you are worried about people pirating the album? Fuck you. Give me my money back.
The mantra "I own it so I will use it however the fuck I want" should be uppermost, and Amazon do not subscribe so they are out (other reasons too, like the outrageous trick underlying the new Fire: if you buy one, they fucking own you, literally. Makes Google look unintrusive).
You know, I'm sick of following my dreams, man. I'm just going to ask where they're going and hook up with 'em later.
Was wondering if that little titbit would pop up. Yes, even that bit (the bit he was wrong about)