Subscription Billing Can Work Around New E.U. Ruling on Download Resales

A European court has ruled that consumers can re-sell their downloads, just as they would re-sell boxed CDs, DVDs and used books. The case

A European court has ruled that consumers can re-sell their downloads, just as they would re-sell boxed CDs, DVDs and used books.The case was brought by Oracle against UsedSoft, a site that buys and sells used software licenses. But it also likely means that consumers who download MP3, PDFs, or video files (like recorded Webinars) can resell those downloads to other consumers.This can threaten many paid content sites who look to make money off one-off sales. Which is why we are such evangelists for the subscription and membership Model for paid content sites. Through subscription billing, users pay for continued access to non-downloadable content. Since they can access the content they need from any device — laptop or tablet, from home or work — consumers are satisfied. And if paid contents sites create robust online databases that allow consumers to create member libraries with notes and comments on the content, they’re likely to retain consumers and see revenue month after month, year after year.

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