29 votes

The end of ownership: How big companies are trying to turn everyone into renters

10 comments

  1. [10]
    vord
    Link
    Libraries (the brick and mortar kind) would never be permitted to be created in this modern age. They are utterly fantastic community hubs, and one of the few spaces left genuinely not trying to...

    Libraries (the brick and mortar kind) would never be permitted to be created in this modern age.

    They are utterly fantastic community hubs, and one of the few spaces left genuinely not trying to sell you something.

    In the last month alone, my family has read no less than $300 worth of children's books. I paid $1 in overdue fines for returning a few of them late in that time.

    Go to them, and use them. It's a win-win for you and them, as their funding is often tied to number of active members.

    23 votes
    1. [7]
      skybrian
      Link Parent
      Libraries are great, but this seems like an odd response to the article because you don’t own library books either. It seems to be fine to most people that they don’t build up their own collection...

      Libraries are great, but this seems like an odd response to the article because you don’t own library books either. It seems to be fine to most people that they don’t build up their own collection of books when they use a library. Maybe that’s not what they want?

      I see that a Kindle unlimited subscription lets you read a pretty big selection of children’s books for $10 a month. This seems reasonable for most people, though perhaps it should be subsidized for people with low incomes.

      Also, most community libraries don’t keep books forever either. They have limited space so they’re constantly getting rid of old books to make way for new, based on their assessment of what’s popular in their community.

      This is different for the big libraries, like university libraries. It seems like they play a more important role in the preservation of knowledge? Non-academics don’t use them all that much, though.

      12 votes
      1. [6]
        vord
        (edited )
        Link Parent
        Libraries can't function without the concept of book ownership. Their entire existance is predicated on the rights of first ownership, which is why they can buy them and lend them for free....

        Libraries are great, but this seems like an odd response to the article because you don’t own library books either. It seems to be fine to most people that they don’t build up their own collection of books when they use a library. Maybe that’s not what they want?

        Libraries can't function without the concept of book ownership. Their entire existance is predicated on the rights of first ownership, which is why they can buy them and lend them for free. Killing ownership kills libraries. At least proper ones.

        Libraries often do churn books, but there are a few mitigating factors. Good libraries will let you request any book from any library in the system, generally a whole county instead of town. They'll often also have a 'request tthis book' option. And to get rid of the old books they'll often have a book sale where you can buy them for pennies on the dollar.

        And yea, I could pay the $10, but that's $10 more a month to a company I'm working as hard as I can to avoid using.

        All of this heming and hawing about rents vs ownership has a very clear solution in my mind though: Gut copywrite laws (thus freeing much more content to the public domain for archival and easy access). And demand elimination of DRM for anything that isn't a monthly subscription.

        Fat chance of those though.

        14 votes
        1. [5]
          skybrian
          Link Parent
          I don't think anything has changed as far as owning physical books, so what's this about "killing ownership?" I'm in favor of copyright reform, and sharing scanned books should be a lot better....

          I don't think anything has changed as far as owning physical books, so what's this about "killing ownership?"

          I'm in favor of copyright reform, and sharing scanned books should be a lot better. It's too bad Google Books didn't turn into a way that you can actually read books.

          3 votes
          1. [4]
            vord
            Link Parent
            (sorry, touch sleep deprived) Electronic ownership. As the vast majority of reading transitions towards ebooks, libraries can and will get cut out in the process. Sure they might get token cheap...

            (sorry, touch sleep deprived)

            Electronic ownership. As the vast majority of reading transitions towards ebooks, libraries can and will get cut out in the process. Sure they might get token cheap access, but they'll be unable to curate and share widrly becuse they'll be at the whims of Amazon or the like.

            5 votes
            1. skybrian
              Link Parent
              Physical books and e-books are so different that I think they need different institutions. For e-books, there's no reason to have local branches, any more than there's a need for local branches of...

              Physical books and e-books are so different that I think they need different institutions. For e-books, there's no reason to have local branches, any more than there's a need for local branches of Google. I know you dislike Amazon, but the public alternative would be something like a national or international public library that's online-only.

              It seems like the Library of Congress should do this, since they get two copies of every book. (In theory, anyway. It seems it's rarely enforced.)

              Apparently it's only last year that they made a rule that all electronic-only books have to be sent to them. There's a discussion of DRM but I'm not sure how that will work in practice.

              We should distinguish between historic preservation (for scholars, mostly) and the in-practice access to books that the general public actually has. I think the public has better access to books than ever, and Amazon is partly responsible for that. I remember as a kid, as an avid bookworm, the first time I got to see the library at the local community college and how much bigger it was than the school and public libraries I had access to. And that's nothing compared to Amazon. Sure, some people get books through inter-library loan, but convenience matters.

              But physical books aren't going away. Local libraries are reinventing themselves as community centers.

              3 votes
            2. [2]
              ChuckS
              Link Parent
              How can you argue for electronic ownership and elimination of DRM at the same time? Electronic ownership without DRM just means you can make as many copies as you want and give them away to as...

              How can you argue for electronic ownership and elimination of DRM at the same time? Electronic ownership without DRM just means you can make as many copies as you want and give them away to as many people as you want.

              What you want is transferable electronic ownership. Honestly though you could probably just do that by making a unique email address for each game you own. When you're done playing the game, sell the email address.

              1 vote
              1. vord
                (edited )
                Link Parent
                Nope, DRM free. No restrictions on copying. This is not a new idea, in fact there are many successful, legitimate businesses selling DRM-free media. There's a lot of writing far better than mine...

                Nope, DRM free. No restrictions on copying. This is not a new idea, in fact there are many successful, legitimate businesses selling DRM-free media. There's a lot of writing far better than mine on it.

                DRM is antithical to electronic ownership, because it means the company that sold you the good has the ability to control how you use it.

                Can I convert an Amazon ebook to epub or pdf? Load on any arbitrary device I own? Then I don't own that book.

                Some DRM free stores:

                Really the only type of media not really generally for sale is video. And the prevalance of video piracy shows DRM is at best a minor hindrance that mostly just makes lives harder for the consumer. ~~You can't legally watch Netflix via Kodi on a raspberry pi, even with a subscription. ~~ Apparently Wildvine is now officially available for the Rpi and not an extract from Android like before. Still goes to show you can't watch a service you pay for on any device that has the capability unless blessed by the provider.

                I understand DRM isn't going away anytime soon. But if two stores are selling the same thing, the DRM free store gets my money.

    2. [2]
      AugustusFerdinand
      Link Parent
      Do you mean if they were a new idea?

      Libraries (the brick and mortar kind) would never be permitted to be created in this modern age.

      Do you mean if they were a new idea?

      2 votes
      1. vord
        Link Parent
        Precisely. Libraries and the concept of 'public domain' would never be permitted to get off the ground.

        Precisely. Libraries and the concept of 'public domain' would never be permitted to get off the ground.

        6 votes