David Honig <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes:
> Salon has an article about the SF library's (lame, awkward) scheme
> to 'loan' ebooks. They are using custom copyright-protection
> code:
>
> "You'll still have to read the text either on the Web or on your hard drive
> and the book will automatically ``return'' itself (i.e.: disappear from
> your hard drive) after exactly three days; hardly enough time to read the
> entirety of ``Don Quixote,'' or even the Cliffs Notes of ``Don Quixote''
> (both of which, incidentally, are available). You can't print your e-book
> out, and you can't send a copy to a friend."
Sounds like a project for some SF-area Cypherpunks. ;)
> Buying may always be less of a hassle than borrowing. But imagine if your
> public library eventually became a kind of Napster for the literary set --
> offering free, downloadable versions of all the hottest book releases,
> which you could trade with your friends, and carry around on your PDA. It's
> a readers dream: ``I'll give you Zadie Smith if you share your Stephen King
> collection with me ...'' Well, one can always dream.
Give them time. ;)
