The problems with digital resale

One of the big problems with digital books is that you do not own them.

For readers this means I can't take my book and lend it to someone else (like my father), I cannot sell it, and I can't buy a used copy at a discount. I also can't modify or destroy it, but that's not a big issue for me (if I was disabled, Amazon's helping to erode my right to use text to speech software would be a big deal).

For authors it means they get paid for every copy of the book, unlike now where they do not get paid for used book sales. Unlike physical books, all of their work will be available at all times. However, authors lose out on word of mouth sales, since the restrictions will result in fewer people taking the risk of picking up and trying new authors. Will the free sample chapter be enough to offset the loss? I don't know.

Lets assume that Amazon and the Authors Guild want to respect reader's rights and would give us the ability to lend and sell if they could do so without it ending in a debacle like it did for the music industry with MP3s. How would a system like that work?

One interesting aspect of Kindle's system is that all devices capable of using Amazon's digital books (Kindles and now iPhones) are connected to the internet. Amazon already offers the ability to transfer your books from one kindle to another (so long as they are all registered to you). You can also read a book on your iPhone and Kindle at the same time.

Amazon has really shot themselves in the rhetorical foot with these features. The traditional argument against digital resale is that the seller can't know that I have really deleted the content when I sell it. There is no way to be sure that I have deleted an MP3 for instance.

On the other hand you can sell digital content tied to a physical object. There is a market for used CDs, DVDs, and video games.

Now that Amazon has admitted that they can control access to the books they sell, there's no technical reason they can't allow book resale. The only thing standing in the way of a legal used kindle bookstore, is Amazon.

Would such a market work? I imagine that almost every book will always be available 'used', since using a book would cause no damage and it would be no different from a new copy. Technically, it would be a new copy, with a used license. Within a month of publishing a stable quantity of used books would be available, and Amazon would never sell another new copy.

Sounds like an author's nightmare, but it doesn't have to be. If Amazon cuts a deal with the publisher to give them the same royalty, but cuts the used price to 2/3rds of the new, Amazon can still buy used books for 1/3 to 25% of the original price and make a healthy profit. Everyone will be happier, especially the authors who will now be getting paid for used books, without loosing the word of mouth benefits.

Just a thought, but over the long term a used digital book store in inevitable, so Amazon may as well get out in front of it.