Now here is a quick question for all of us in the digital era to consider carefully – very carefully at that. Would you ever think of selling off your digital files as a second hand product? Of course, unlike a physical item, a digital file does not have that kind of “wear and tear” associated with our more material reality, so does this mean that second hand files from iTunes could cost less than their “original” first hand counterpart? It really depends on the market forces to sort this particular conundrum out for themselves, don’t you think so?
In fact, Apple had already patented a system for the purchasing and sales of movies, music, books and software, at least, the digitized versions of such items. Of course, Apple is not the only company out there eyeing a potentially lucrative market as this, as Amazon nearly did the same thing as they patented an “electronic marketplace” that will be the platform for buying and selling of digital data should that day eventually come.
