> Before anyone bothers "correcting" me with nonsense about buying a license instead of a copy, don't bother.
> It's impossible to convince me that it's wrong to share a copy with my wife, any more than it'd be wrong to lend her my physical copy after I'm done reading it.
I completely agree with you on this issue. I think it's grotesque the way digital "purchases" work, to the point where I am boycotting Kindle and every other place that has DRM (and while it's a drop in their ocean, it does cost them probably $500 to $1,000 per year in sales from me. Though I have no illusion that it's making a difference, but it matters to me).
But that said, I think closing your mind so completely before you've even heard a counter-argument is irresponsible and anti-intellectual. I doubt anybody is going to change my mind either, but I would like to hear the strongest possible arguments against my position so I can evaluate my correctness. If my position is solid, then it will be hard to make a great argument against it. If my position isn't solid, I would like to know so I can get on more solid rational ground.
You're quite right. It's just that I've had this specific argument before, I've heard the arguments, and they're unconvincing. The first few times -- yes, I talk about this kind of thing more often than you might imagine -- it was intellectually challenging in the way you describe. Are my own points valid and reasonable? Do they bring up new points I should consider? It gets tiresome after a while, though. No one ever brings up novel ideas or even interesting ones. Every single time it's more like this:
Me: I bought a {ebook, movie, video game} the other day, and...
Unclever person: GOTCHA! You bought a license! There, do you feel better for having been corrected by my superior pedantry?
That nonsense ads nothing to the conversation except for me blocking the person as a pain in the ass if I'm on a platform where I can block people. If someone has an actual argument stronger than the Terms of Service printed in 3 point type on the back of a store behind the bathrooms, I'd love to hear it. I couldn't care less about the gotchas.
Actually: can you share the license more easily than the whole book? Then you did not buy a license either. The “license argument” is silly and contradictory.
> It's impossible to convince me that it's wrong to share a copy with my wife, any more than it'd be wrong to lend her my physical copy after I'm done reading it.
I completely agree with you on this issue. I think it's grotesque the way digital "purchases" work, to the point where I am boycotting Kindle and every other place that has DRM (and while it's a drop in their ocean, it does cost them probably $500 to $1,000 per year in sales from me. Though I have no illusion that it's making a difference, but it matters to me).
But that said, I think closing your mind so completely before you've even heard a counter-argument is irresponsible and anti-intellectual. I doubt anybody is going to change my mind either, but I would like to hear the strongest possible arguments against my position so I can evaluate my correctness. If my position is solid, then it will be hard to make a great argument against it. If my position isn't solid, I would like to know so I can get on more solid rational ground.