Here’s a question: What happens to eBook collections when the user dies? I’ve asked this a couple of times over on Twitter, but nobody seems to know.
Avid readers (or bibliophiles, or bibliomaniacs) can accumulate quite a collection of books over a lifetime. They’re sometimes dealt with separately in a will, sometimes fought over by descendants, and sometimes sold off as a job lot before the earth has settled on the grave.
Of course, digital files don’t have quite the cachet of a room full of battered and loved books. It’s hard to imagine handing somebody a reading device with the words, “See those eBook files? My great-grandfather downloaded those.” Still, a lifetime’s collection of eBooks will represent a significant investment, both financially and in terms of the way the user spent his or her life.
So is it even possible to will such a collection on? Can eBook licenses be transferred on death, or does death effectively terminate the license, rendering the deceased’s entire collection of digital books essentially (in legal terms) unusable?
Does anybody know?
Edit: I suspect the answer is the obvious one: that eBook licenses aren’t transferable, so the right to use them dies with the original purchaser. So I’ll expand the question: what happens, and what should happen?
February 19th, 2010 at 2:39 pm
When you inherit a collection of LP Records you get ownership of them. You do not need a license from Fats Domino, or Buddy Holly. They are yours to keep, sell, or just let rot.
It is the same with internet files.
February 19th, 2010 at 2:47 pm
I wish it were that simple, Ray, but I don’t think it is. When you ‘purchase’ an eBook, you’re actually paying for a license to use it, usually with a great many limitations, regarding inability to sell it, etc. You don’t actually own them in the same way that you own a good old-fashioned dead tree. Or LP.
February 19th, 2010 at 2:53 pm
Because of the DRM, they’re simply lost. They don’t go anywhere–only your money go down the drain.
February 19th, 2010 at 3:46 pm
@anthonylevings on Twitter made a couple of points:
One thing is for sure – eBooks will not save you money – if that is anyone’s sole reason for getting into them – don’t
No guarantees with tech over what becomes obsolete – e.g. you can read Kindle books on iPhone for now but in the future?
February 19th, 2010 at 4:27 pm
A thought-provoking question Rob, but I think ultimately ebooks aren’t meant to be an everlasting legacy; they’re more of a disposable commodity. I get what you mean though, but is anyone going to really going to contest ownership of a digital collection?
So in that sense then they’re kind of ephemeral, and like a gym membership, season ticket for the train etc. they just die with the owner.
Great question though and you give a compelling reason for people who do want to leave a lasting legacy, to stick with the physical thing.
Warmest
The better looking Rob :o)
February 19th, 2010 at 4:42 pm
Interesting, Rob. I tend not to think of ebooks as disposable, but perhaps you have a point. And one that adds fuel to the “ebooks should be much cheaper than print” fire.
March 4th, 2010 at 9:56 pm
I got into ebooks because of space and impatience: I just don’t have the space for all the paper in my place and I don’t have the patience to find time to go to the library – which often doesn’t have what I want in stock thus requiring more patience when they have to order the book.
It’s a pity my collection will be lost, but I still think I’m getting some, if not full, value for money since I’m reading the books when I’m alive and well to do so and I don’t have clutter concerns.
In the end, my main grip with ebooks is that they are too expensive. They should be cut back in price by 50%. Publishers are likely getting electronic manuscripts from authors and it’s possible to scan older books and then tidy them up in a word-processing document and all without going to the presses and thus without using as much energy and paper as would be the case with a hard copy.
July 4th, 2010 at 10:25 am
[…] Per Slate i libri elettronici non sostituiranno mai quelli cartacei. (Invece, per la rubrica della domande oziose: che fine farà la vostra biblioteca di ebooks quando non ci sarete più?) […]
July 6th, 2010 at 7:16 pm
So, if I leave my kindle and it’s content to someone, amazon will delete all the books when it cottons to the fact I’m dead. Hmmmm. Wonder if I could set up a trust of some sort and buy the books through an undying entity…
July 29th, 2010 at 2:58 pm
The way the DRM is structured, whomever was bequeathed the computer in the will would become the rights owner to all the etexts on it, along with any music files &c. It is interesting to note that the purchaser has fewer rights with an electronic copy compared to the paperback.
December 8th, 2010 at 2:02 am
Really I vote for books over e-books. They are more HUMAN. They are human tools. I know they don’t last forever, but our words are important and sites come and go, but books live in the library of Congress, and thousands of local libraries. Books inhabit my shelves and stacks at home — they are part of me, not a machine.