This is one of the silliest notions I've heard in a long time:
Is Amazon.com becoming the Napster of the book business?
The analogy may not be far off, say some observers of the used-book industry. . . .
"Used books are to consumer books as Napster was to the music industry," said [Lorraine Shanley, a principal at Market Partners International, a publishing consultant]. "The question becomes, 'How does the book industry address its used-book problem?' There aren't any easy answers, especially as no one is breaking any laws here."
The idea that anybody would be strenuously opposed to a used-book market boggles my mind. Aren't there any book lovers at publishing companies? Haven't any publishing executives bought a used book (because it was so cheap), loved it, then bought a new edition for themselves or somebody else? Don't they realize how many life-long readers are created due to the temptation of used books (which I lump together with libraries as cheap, reasonable alternatives to horrendously over-priced first-edition hardcovers)?
Besides which, what are they going to do: force me to keep a book that I just don't like?