[MaxBarraclough]

A similar argument can be made against downloadable audiobooks, but in that case, they're far cheaper than buying CDs.

As an example, The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy: Primary Phase. The CD version is £20 from Amazon, whereas on Amazon Audible it's at most £8. (I'm not counting the £18 listed price on Audible, as one can simply 'subscribe' for £8, buy the audiobook with the token, then immediately unsubscribe. I put 'at most' because their per-book price is lower with a high-volume subscription.)

In this case, I'm ok with the DRM'ed non-physical version, as it's so much cheaper. It's true I can't easily gift the audiobooks or leave them in my will. It's also true that Amazon has the power to lock me out of my library, and if Audible disappears, I probably lose my library.

[gmac]

Absolutely, and also for 'buying' movies on Amazon, Apple, Google and (especially) smaller services.

The product you're buying is really: rental of unknown duration. And unless that's really substantially cheaper than actually buying it on disc, it's a terrible deal.

[_pmf_]

> And unless that's really substantially cheaper than actually buying it on disc, it's a terrible deal.

It's a pretty good deal when I don't have a disc player of any kind (well, CD).

[gmac]

Well, maybe, though an external DVD drive probably costs no more than three or four movies, and then you can make yourself non-DRM digital copies too. (As long as you don't need BluRay and HD).

[PascLeRasc]

I place a big value on not owning things I don't want, like external DVD drives. I'd pay more for a virtual one-time-viewing copy than I would for a DVD even if it came with a DVD drive. I specifically want to not own one.

[toast0]

BluRay ripping is possible, too, although not as simple and easy as DVD ripping.

[MaxBarraclough]

I've never used this feature, but apparently Audible/iTunes permits you to burn to a CD exactly once. Far cheaper than buying the 'proper' CD.

[ghaff]

It's not a terrible deal if I prefer it in digital form (most fiction in particular) especially if I'm likely to only read it once. In normal circumstances, digital is much better for me as I can travel with all the books I want.

[ver_ture]

It's a good deal if you want to own the ability to read digitally for the agreed upon time period. Read = 1, Property = null.

It's a terrible deal if you want to own the e-book for a second read, because you haven't bought that.

[nzealand]

You can download audible files, and convert them later to non-DRM.