[dhimes]

But these prices haven't changed much in decades. Books have always cost that much, as have albums (the exception being textbooks). Discount vinyl record albums were US $5.99 in the 1970s.

I have issues with DRM, but not because I find the prices exorbitant.

[mfoy_]

The prices haven't changed if we are talking ownership. But we are not talking about ownership, we're talking about licensing.

That dichotomy is what we're talking about. People are tricked into thinking they are buying a book. They are not. They are renting a book at the same price as buying.

[jessaustin]

When you bought vinyl or CDs, you owned that. How can a temporary rental be worth the same?

[tedunangst]

Because it takes up less space in my house.

[reitanqild]

I say not valid because you can rip the physical media and store the original in cheap offsite storage for whoever inherits you => best of both worlds.

[tedunangst]

I say not valid because audio doesn't have DRM anymore, just books, and ripping a book to PDF is more work than I'm inclined to do.

[dublinben]

This service [0] will do that for you for as little as $1 a book.

[0] http://1dollarscan.com/

[tedunangst]

More like $6 or $8 really. And at some point, I'd really just rather start reading instead of paying more and waiting two weeks.

[marcosdumay]

> Books have always cost that much

How much renting them used to cost?