[WEB4LIB] Re: Writeable CD drive on a public machine?

[Walt_Crawford at notes.rlg.org]

I see this interchange:

>On Mon, 26 Feb 2001, Peter Scott wrote:
>> This just came up in discussion. If we have a print-station available,
>> allowing users of public machines to print to paper (at 10c per copy),
why
>> not also have a machine which houses a writeable CD drive in the public
>> area?

>The word "Napster" comes to mind...
>--
>Regards,
>...Bob Rasmussen,   President,   Rasmussen Software, Inc.

I don't see it. I'm as protective of IP rights as anyone (and have no
sympathy for Napster), but that's like saying that libraries shouldn't have
copying machines or printers because they can be used to (a) copy copyright
material, (b) print out copyright material. There are a lot of uses for
CD-RW drives. A few of them may raise copyright issues, but no more so than
any other copying medium.

The possibility of illegal activity can't be used as a hammer to shut down
all legitimate activity in every field; otherwise, libraries are out of
business.

The "why not" that comes to mind for me is technical support: burning CD-Rs
still isn't that uncomplicated in all cases, as far as I know.

If you can offer CD-RW drives without significant levels of staff overhead,
I don't see the problem--but that's a big "If."

Then again...for years, some libraries sold blank diskettes for half a buck
each as a service. Sell formatted blank CD-Rs for half a buck each and you
can be making $0.30 profit on each one (unless you're kind enough to offer
sleeves). And no legitimate library PC session could possibly fill up a
CD-R..

-Walt Crawford-