[HairOfTheDog]

So if you buy a book once, but wear it out and need to buy a new copy, you shouldn't have to pay the author again because you have already paid for the story once? And they are supposed to keep track of that? Ridiculous, but I think you know that.

If you like their work so much that you buy it again and again on new media, I can't imagine why you would begrudge paying them for work that has obviously stood the test of time. Sounds like they did very good work indeed!

[babygene]

"So if you buy a book"

On the flip side (hehe), if you buy a book and later let a friend (peer) read it, is that OK?

Can I donate a used book (or CD) to a library where it can be shared with thousands of people? Is that OK?

Seems to me that someone needs to create a web-library where copyrighted works can be "checked out" and "checked in". There must be laws that govern the establishment and operations of libraries.

As an aside, I've always found it curious that there always seems to be copy machines for hire in libraries...

It's also clear to me that if copy machines had copy protection schemes built in that prevented you from making a copy of any document that was copyrighted, nobody would buy or own a Xerox machine.