Why is it legal to buy and sell used books/discs but illegal to buy and sell used digital files?

_number8_@lemmy.world to Piracy: ꜱᴀɪʟ ᴛʜᴇ ʜɪɢʜ ꜱᴇᴀꜱ@lemmy.dbzer0.com – 484 points –

this contradiction always confused me. either way the official company is "losing a sale" and not getting the money, right?

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DON'T COPY THAT FLOPPY!!

This argument is only a "gotcha" if it was permissible use, but it wasn't, even before CDs.

I think you are referring to rules in the USA. In Canada, we have 'fair dealing' laws that would allow you to rip your CD and sell it. In part, this is already funded by a levy on blank CDs here.