> I'm not sure I understand. Only one person can check out an ebook at a time? Why is that? I would think ebooks, when downloaded, are copies of the book, not the original file. Therefore, more than one person could download the book at the same time.
You're thinking of electronics--publishers are thinking of ownership. You can "lend" a Kindle copy to a friend, too, but only one device can read it at a time.
If ebooks could be copied/distributed infinitely, nobody would make any money. Authors and publishers have to eat too, and there are few millionaires among them. Stephen King, J.K. Rowling, Nora Roberts are the exceptions--most authors (like most musicians) have to take a day job and do what they love in their "spare time."
Most movies lose money too, despite the billionaire Hollywood image. When I worked at AFI library, I learned the ugly statistics: each year, about 45,000 screenplays are registered with the Writers' Guild; about 450 movies get made; about 45 make a profit; 4 or 5 are truly memorable, and (maybe not the same 4 or 5) win all the awards and/or make a lot of money. It's a lottery, but it takes a lot more work and expense than just buying a lottery ticket.
The book market is almost as bad--more get published, but fewer are big blockbusters. Harry Potter is the once-in-a-lifetime exception, not the rule. And a few dozen authors, out of thousands of hopefuls, enjoy sustained careers.
So ebooks, mostly barely profitable, are as carefully guarded from piracy as software, music and movie files. Multiple downloads are lost income, and most publishers and authors are barely making it (and let's admit it, the vast majority of the authors who put their stuff on the net for free really aren't worth reading). So, if you want the good books to keep coming, you have to give the good authors something in return. And that means selling one copy at a time.
Misha, Librarian
Sent from my iPhone 4
On Dec 31, 2011, at 3:03 PM, Alice Saunders <whiterabbit32@gmail.com> wrote:
> I'm not sure I understand. Only one person can check out an ebook at a time? Why is that? I would think ebooks, when downloaded, are copies of the book, not the original file. Therefore, more than one person could download the book at the same time.
>
> Alice Saunders
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