难以预料的实体书借阅经济

LIKE a tired marriage, the relationship between libraries and publishers has long been reassuringly dull. E-books, however, are causing heartache. Libraries know they need digital wares if they are to remain relevant, but many publishers are too wary of piracy and lost sales to co-operate. Among the big six, only Random House and HarperCollins license e-books with most libraries. The others have either denied requests or are reluctantly experimenting. In August, for example, Penguin will start a pilot with public libraries in New York.
就像是一个令人疲惫的婚姻，图书馆和出版商之间长期存在着无聊的关系。然而，电子书的出现引起了它们的心痛。图书馆知道，如果它们想保持自己存在的价值，就需要数字化的设备，但对于许多出版商而言，由于在盗版和失去销量问题上太过谨慎的态度，而不予合作。在最大的六家出版商中，只有兰登书屋和哈珀?柯林斯出版社授予了绝大多数图书馆电子书的许可。其它出版社或是拒绝了这项要求，或是在勉强进行试用。例如，在八月份，企鹅出版社将在纽约的公共图书馆开始试验。

Publishers are wise to be nervous. Owners of e-readers are exactly the customers they need: book-lovers with money (neither the devices nor broadband connections come cheap). If these wonderful people switch to borrowing e-books instead of buying them, what then?
出版商感到紧张是明智的。电子阅读器的所有者们恰恰是他们需要的顾客：有钱（而既不是设备或是便宜的宽带连接）的爱书人。如果这些了不起的人们由借阅电子书而变为购买电子书，将会怎样呢？

Electronic borrowing is awfully convenient. Unlike printed books, which must be checked out and returned to a physical library miles from where you live, book files can be downloaded at home. Digital library catalogues are often browsed at night, from a comfy sofa. The files disappear from the device when they are due (which means no late fees, nor angst about lost or damaged tomes).
电子借阅非常方便。与印刷版书籍不同，电子书籍文件在家就可以下载，而不需要去离家几英里外的实体图书馆借阅和还书。人们常在晚上在舒适的沙发里浏览数字图书馆目录。当文件到期时，它们将自动从设备上消失（这意味着没有滞纳金，也无需担心丢失或损坏煌煌巨著）。

Awkwardly for publishers, buying an e-book costs more than renting one but offers little extra value. You cannot resell it, lend it to a friend or burn it to stay warm. Owning a book is useful if you want to savour it repeatedly, but who reads "Fifty Shades of Grey" twice?
这对出版商而言却很尴尬。购买一本电子书比租用一本的花费更多，然而带来的收益增加却相当微小。你不能把电子书二次售出或是借给朋友，甚至不能将它烧了以取暖。如果你想重复品味一本书，那么拥有一本书是非常好的，但谁愿意读第二遍《格雷的50道阴影》？