ReDigi Responds to Amazon’s Used eBook Patent and Convinces Me That I’ll Never Use Its Service
From The Digital Reader:
Amazon got a lot of attention earlier this week with news broke that they had been awarded a patent for a “used digital content” marketplace. Many took it to be a sign that Amazon was interested in creating used content market similar to the one they maintain for books, DVDs, and other physical media.
Naturally this has the blogosphere and tech industry intrigued, but no one was more interested than ReDigi. This 2 year old startup has already launched a marketplace where US residents can resell music they bought. It went into a public beta in October 2011, but only currently supports music purchased via iTunes.
. . . .
[From a ReDigi press release]
ReDigi’s advanced technology employs a “Verification Engine” and “Atomic Transaction”, resulting in a TRANSFER ONLY mechanism. This means that all digital goods are first verified to ensure that they are legally eligible for resale. Once verified, ReDigi’s technology transfers the “original” good from the user’s computer to ReDigi’s Cloud (Marketplace). With ReDigi’s method, only the “original” good is instantaneously /atomically transferred from seller to buyer without any copies. ReDigi then assists the seller with an anti-virus like software application that monitors the seller’s computer and synced devices to ensure that any personal-use copies of the sold good are removed.
Just to be clear, ReDigi want to install an app on your computer so they can make sure to delete any copies of a song you sell via their service.
Link to the rest at The Digital Reader
, Amazon will pay Passive Guy a small affiliate commission on any of your purchases.
Lol! Um. Yeah I’ll pass.
That’s the only way they’ve got a shot in hell of getting media companies to go along with a resale scheme. It’s really the equivalent of a used cd store hiring a guy to come search your house to make sure you didn’t burn a copy before you sold it. I am firmly behind instituting first sale rights on digital goods, but this is just another DRM controlled fantasy, only to the benefit of the second-hand reseller not the primary seller or the creator. Their mechanism may well get caught up in some of the new privacy rules being hashed out in policy and courts around the world , too. I suspect the courts will eventually clear this up at some point with a ruling that verifies customers’ first sale rights. It’s coming, I think, because media companies have gotten too greedy and tilted things too far in their interest as opposed to the interests of consumers. Amazon is again looking ahead. If that happens, they’ll be better poised to profit from it than publishers or media companies who’s entire internet strategy has essentially been one of locking out first sale rights. They’ll get caught with their pants down again, while screaming all the way about Amazon not playing fair when all they’re really doing is paying attention to which way the wind’s blowing. I’m not an Amazon disciple, and I have no interest in seeing them claim early dominance in any kind of secondary markets to go with what they already have. But you just have to marvel at a company that is continually four or five steps ahead of those who really should know better. If Amazon does ultimately dominate publishing, publishers have no one but themselves to blame.
I’m a fairly open-minded individual, but reselling digital media seems just…just…wrong!
Why?
Used Digital Media? Is that like Child-Safe Plutonium?
I think calling them used is a bit of a misnomer. They’re resold or second hand as in the initial buyer was first hand, now you’re the second hand of ownership. There’s nothing in first sale that requires you to even take the shrinkwrap off, or any standard of product degradation to meet before you can sell.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sony_rootkit
This is why I haven’t purchased any Sony product since 2005.
It will be a cold day in hell before I buy ReDigi stuff, too.
Why does everyone assume Amazon wants to do this? By controlling the patent they control whether anyone can do this. They could charge exorbitant fees if a third party decided to implement such a service. Seems to me Amazon stands to make more on one-sale only digital goods.
But ReDigi is already doing it, and I doubt they would have written the gushing statement about Amazon doing this if they thought it was intended to cut them out. Besides, the patent is for whatever method Amazon’s suggesting for digital resale. Any other methods would be unencumbered. And Amazon does a pretty good business selling second hand media now. If resale of digital goods becomes a realistic long-term legal possibility, I’d be shocked if they didn’t get involved.
Can I sell a “used” copy of a book I got free before it went paid or even big-time and now commands a trad-pub price? I’d even make a small profit myself doing that. Heck, I may have never even read it so it’s brand new, not used at all!
I have no intention of doing the above, just asking to establish another method of possible system abuse.
JEH
“Seems to me Amazon stands to make more on one-sale only digital goods.”
Not necessarily. There are some people who will buy a book if they know they can resell it, but not otherwise.
Well, the technology here is over my head. As is all the legal stuff. And I’m not sure what ReDigi does. But I will say this:
I would be totally up for selling my used e-books and buying other e-books used.
I hope they figure out a way to do this.