Re: RARA-AVIS: Used Books and ethics

From: gsp.schoo@MOT.com
Date: 04 May 2010

  • Next message: Anthony Dauer: "Re: RARA-AVIS: Used Books and ethics"

    I know that when it comes to, umm, literrraturrre, you guys get excited pondering the minutest details of, uh, oh, guilt and more, more, morality, that it's no wonder thoughts turn so quickly to ohhh books in the bathroom but I think the question reveals more about the failure to develop a system of compensation that dates back to the industrial era.

    When books are purchased and borrowed from a library a small fee for the public lending rights in Canada, just as a small fee is paid for photocopying in educational institutions, government bodies and an increasing number of private companies. Much as recording artists get paid when their tunes are played on the radio airwaves. It's not perfect yet but computer software is ideal for keeping track of such details. For used books it's maybe not so easy to keep track. Used book stores could pay an annual fee through, say a professional association, based either on gross sales or by scanning the bar-code ISBN numbers on individual books. Payments could be doled out annually to registered authors and publishers.

    Similar systems could apply elsewhere in the changing publishing industry.

    Sorry for the letdown, Kerry

      ----- Original Message -----
      From: Anthony Dauer
      To: rara-avis-l@yahoogroups.com
      Sent: Tuesday, May 04, 2010 8:37 AM
      Subject: Re: RARA-AVIS: Used Books and ethics

        
      Naw, I stick by it. Your argument doesn't hold up. If I purchase new
      parts, they're NEW parts. They still do not receive any money from the
      resale of the car. If I could purchase a new paper cover from the
      publisher to replace the old one on the used hardcover book I
      purchased or a page or some other PART of the book, then there would
      at least be a correlation, but the book publisher and the author are
      still not receiving additional money unless they are actually the ones
      reselling the used copy.

      I prefer new books myself. I only purchase used books if there is no
      longer a new one to buy. I like that new book smell. Could care less
      where its been.

      On Mon, May 3, 2010 at 8:25 PM, davezeltserman
      <Dave.Zeltserman@gmail.com> wrote:

    > not good analogies since when you buy a used car the manufacturer could very well get additional revenue if you later buy parts from the manufacturer to fix your car. The restaurant would probably be buying from a food wholesaler, but regardless of where they buy the food from, the food is being bought to sell to an end user. Now if the restaurant staff ate the food, regurgitated it, and resold it after that, your analogy would hold.
    >
    > As a kid I used to buy a lot of used books, now as I've gotten older I'd just as soon buy books that I know haven't been taken into bathrooms, etc.

      --
      Anthony Dauer
      Annandale, Virginia, US

      

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