Comments

1
Yet another reason why e-books are an abomination. As if I needed more.
2
"The new terms will not be retroactive, and will apply only to new titles."

You're such a fascist with your opinions, Constant. You can't just say it's a bad deal for libraries, and advise them not to buy. You can't just opine that other publishers will likely have more success if they offer better terms.

Oh, no. It's "wrong". As if Harper Collins has no right to float this deal. As if, what? The police should be called on them?

You know it is legal and moral to offer whatever deal you want to your customers. Even lopsided deals. It's an offer. Potential customers don't have to take the offer.

Drama queen.
3
But why 26 times? The number seems so arbitrary.
4
@3, read the piece. It's what their statistical analysis told them to set it at.

The fun part is, opponents or competitors of HC could so, so easily check out books they want to supress 26 times themselves. Some libraries' software might let you do it in a session, fifteen minutes or so. Poof.
5
I began bittorenting and borrowing from friends in lieu of checking out videos/DVDs at the library when I found out that libraries are charged the same fees as Netflix or Blockbuster for each title you borrow.

That's right, the library gets slammed with rental fees every single time a DVD is checked out, and no, libraries do not get a special non-profit rate. If you think you've gamed the system by trading in your NetFlix for a library card, you're only passing the fees onto our libraries.

I suppose I'll be bittorrenting any audio e-books now too.
6
Eventually it will become like Fahrenheit 451 where the 26th reader will memorize the text and live in the forest calling himself Goethe or Joyce.
7
This is why I don't feel bad about ripping DRM off of books I borrow from the library.
8
Holy crap, Agent Beryllium, is that true about libraries and video fees? Can you point me to any other source of information about that?
9
Agent Beryllium is making things up.
10
@8 & 9

A librarian told me this, over SPL's "Ask a librarian" utility. I had read it somewhere else, asked the librarian over chat, and she confirmed that yes, every time you check out a video the library pays a fee to the video distributor, and no, libraries do not get to pay a lower fee because they are a non-profit.
11
Agent Beryllium is a lying. She "read it somewhere" just means she's making it up. Google search her and you'll find out she's just screwing around with people for her own twisted joy.
12
Agent Beryllium is a liar. Google search her, she's a "Supervillain" and we're all supposed to get the "joke".
13
I'm a librarian, and in the US, we do not pay a rental fee each time a library patron checks out a DVD. We buy the DVDs and own them. A lot of times the price we pay is higher than you might pay to buy something. It's different in the UK, where libraries do pay per-checkout fees for many of the items they circulate, not just DVDs.

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