A Big Day For Copyright
Tomorrow, October 22, marks the 70th anniversary of the very first xerographic image.
Copyrights are easier to control when the means to copy material is relatively difficult. The Xerox machine was a huge event in the history of copy making. But it wasn’t until digital reproduction arrived that the problem really started. Digitally reproduced in many cases are indistinguishable from the original, and this is the very first time in history that reproductions have been as good as the original. But even now, it is primarily audio material that is substantially threatened, because, despite the concerns over written material made available on the internet, what publishers and authors are just now discovering is that people will still buy books, even if they can read the text on their computer. Bloggers put out books that sell, even though all the material is available on their blog. Publishers have made entire books available for free download, and still sold as many traditional books as exepcted.
Even in the case of music, many people still buy CD’s for the packaging. But that does not seem to be the case for younger listeners, which means that music is at risk of losing sales in the digital age.
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