I’ve just noticed that Scribd offers a paid download service in a similar manner to iTunes. I’ve been a fan of Scribd for a fair while now. The main reasons are:

• It allows you to embed articles in a blog which are well formatted and more magazine-like.
• It gives me a real sense of how popular (or unpopular) my articles are, because Scribd has a social networking element whereby users can add your documents to their favourites, and say whether or not they like them or not.
• It’s another way of letting people access my writing.

I think the store holds a lot of promise. I remember when Metal Gear Solid 4 was being released last year, and I really wanted it, but couldn’t justify the cost. So my scheme was to get the game on the release date, and quickly create a walk-through guide, which I would somehow sell….

What ultimately put me off was the sticky issue of copyright. My walk-through guide would’ve been pretty hopeless without screenshots, and other images, which were protected by copyright. It might’ve been permissible if I just posted it on my blog, but I was trying to make money from it, so obviously this wasn’t an option.

Scribd would’ve been appealing, especially since I could’ve made money from downloads. But if I’d posted the walk-through guide, along with the images, then it would’ve been breaking the law.

I know about issues of copyright, but only because I’ve researched it; another person mightn’t be quite so aware. This is my main point: how will such a system work? Does existing copyright make it untenable?

I believe it will work for authors, and it could work exceedingly well. But for creators of graphic works, which either reference or use existing works, the result is a legal mess.

I will watch what happens with keen interest.