There is an interesting parallel here between the used book market and the used CD market. I learned about this in my studies a couple of years back.
Back in the day (early 80's?), when the music industries were looking for a suitable replacement for the audio tape, they came up with the Compact Disc format. Compact Discs were industry-friendly for a number of reasons, not the least of which was their cheap production cost. But there was one aspect of CDs that the recording industry hadn't counted on: their low degradation rate.
Although easily scratched, a CD that had been well-taken care of did not lose sound quality or otherwise physically break down over time, as tapes and LPs did. Thus CDs lent themselves to the used market in a way that previous media never had, and used CDs began to turn up in stores across the country.
In their characteristic profit-minded fashion, the recording industry responded to this by attempting to curb the used CD market. Nothing could be done legally to prevent stores from selling used CDs. But any store which chose to sell used CDs would not be sent the promotional materials that were given to stores which refused to sell used. Many chain stores do not sell used CDs for this very reason. Used-CD specialty stores thus appeared, which sold a few new CDs but for the most part catered to the used CD market. In recent years, however, I have noticed the trend to sell used CDs in the chains as well, so perhaps this has changed.
Needless to say, more consideration was given to ways to control USES of later media. This led directly to the current controls over how DVD media products are consumed. Could books be next on the media industry's agenda? Electronic books already have all sorts of guidelines restricting their use.
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There is an interesting parallel here between the used book market and the used CD market. I learned about this in my studies a couple of years back.
Back in the day (early 80's?), when the music industries were looking for a suitable replacement for the audio tape, they came up with the Compact Disc format. Compact Discs were industry-friendly for a number of reasons, not the least of which was their cheap production cost. But there was one aspect of CDs that the recording industry hadn't counted on: their low degradation rate.
Although easily scratched, a CD that had been well-taken care of did not lose sound quality or otherwise physically break down over time, as tapes and LPs did. Thus CDs lent themselves to the used market in a way that previous media never had, and used CDs began to turn up in stores across the country.
In their characteristic profit-minded fashion, the recording industry responded to this by attempting to curb the used CD market. Nothing could be done legally to prevent stores from selling used CDs. But any store which chose to sell used CDs would not be sent the promotional materials that were given to stores which refused to sell used. Many chain stores do not sell used CDs for this very reason. Used-CD specialty stores thus appeared, which sold a few new CDs but for the most part catered to the used CD market. In recent years, however, I have noticed the trend to sell used CDs in the chains as well, so perhaps this has changed.
Needless to say, more consideration was given to ways to control USES of later media. This led directly to the current controls over how DVD media products are consumed. Could books be next on the media industry's agenda? Electronic books already have all sorts of guidelines restricting their use.