Want more evidence that content creators are experimenting with new distribution methods online? Then read a story by my capable former colleague John Borland on the marketing of textbooks to students in e-book format. At a savings of 33%, the student saves money up front, rather than at the end of the semester when she sells it back to the campus bookstore, and the book disappears after the class is over. Not surprisingly, some in the Free Culture Movement are not welcoming this additional choice for cash-strapped consumers but instead are raising conspiratorial fears.

I always bought used textbooks when they were available because I was perpetually strapped for cash, but I never cared for seeing someone else's scribbling or hi-liter use. (What's up with the people who basically highlight everything? If you go back to read just the highlighted portions, you have to re-read the whole book!) In some classes I would have loved to have bought an e-book that expires, but in others I would have wanted to keep the book and thus would have bought a hard copy. (As an undergrad freshman I heard good things about about A History of the Modern World by Palmer and Colton, and knowing I'd never be able to fit Western Civilization into my schedule, I bought the textbook from a friend who had taken the course and then I read over the summer. I still have it, and don't regret the purchase or the time invested in reading it.)

Borland notes up front something one finds with any new business model -- this deal has pluses and minuses. One plus is the lower cost. Another is the ability to keyword search the text. Some downsides include the fact that one only owns it a limited time (the publisher notes that if a hard-copy book is sold back to the bookstore the seller no longer has it, so this model gives the savings from resale up front) and it can only be used on one computer. I'm not sure how many college students have more than one computer, but I'm not too sympathetic to the plight of that demographic.

Is limiting the book to one device a good idea? Is having the book expire a good idea? I haven't a clue. Let's see if people are willing to buy the books with those conditions. The publisher can play both with price and with rights of use to find the optimal market, and can even choose to offer a tier of rights at various prices. That's the beauty of markets.

EFF's Fred von Lohmann, a favorite source of Borland's, raises an alarm (which is exactly why Borland sought his feedback; you gotta spice up the story with someone objecting). He seems to view the move as part of an orchestrated effort to eliminate the used book market, and claims it could come if publishers ceased actual printing of textbooks.

First, a prop to von Lohmann. If you were to gather a thousand publishing industry executives onto a football field and then threw a football at the crowd, I'll take any odds that the executive you hit in the head with the football hates the First Sale Doctrine. And to that executive I say "Tough." I know authors who have seen their books in used bookstores, and while they are dismayed, they have to hope for the best, namely that someone buys that book, grows to like the author, and buys something else new.

But First Sale works because it's a hard copy where the original owner is no longer in possession. This isn't like Jefferson's lighting of the taper, because when a digital work is shared and the original owner retains possession of it, that is essentially the creation of another copy. It thus is a deprivation of the copyright holder's right to exclusively copy. This isn't just my interpretation -- it's been part of English law for almost 300 years, long before the advent of e-books.

As to von Lohmann's nightmare scenario, I firmly believe that we are nowhere close to a world where hard-copy textbooks are no longer printed. As such, there will always be an active used book market, and thus a need for workers at campus bookstores, providing opportunities for those in financial-aid work-study programs. For once, I'd love to see someone from the Free Culture Movement look at a content creator's attempt to apply their creativity to the digital distribution market and say "Thanks for providing your customers another alternative." I'm not going to hold my breath on that one, but I'm looking forward to the day -- I believe soon -- when there is such a staggering array of offerings for digital content that the main consumer complaint is that there are too many to choose from.

posted by Patrick Ross @ 9:28 AM | Academia, Access: Commons, Fair Use, Orphan Works, Public Domain, Books, Free Culture Movement

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