Haha! I love this...I must admit that I would much rather sit back and listen to a text than read it (mostly because I like to pace about and frolic while listening and hate to stay sedentary for long periods of time.) I guess I'm just an aural learner...Argh. I have suffered long and hard in programs that privilege seminars over good ol' fashioned lectures/readings.

I think that Lessig's idea to release his book in this way was simply the work of a mastermind. Rather than counting on restriction of his work to create a false scarcity and thus bring more profits, his theory was that promoting abundance by enabling free distribution would lead to them. Now, if only more people would follow the same model..

Certainly, a nice luxury to be able to hear the text for some of us. But what I think is significant is how ADA friendly CC licensed texts become since anyone can prepare an audio version for the visually impaired without having to seek permission.

Excellent point. I've noticed for awhile that audio books are significantly more expensive than print texts, a fact I know must make life difficult for underfunded scholars with limited vision. I wonder how much it typically costs companies to acquire a copyright in order to produce a braille edition of a text?

I thought it'd be fun to distill Lessig's book into a kind of mock-interview between me (an interested, pro-CC and Open Source guy with very little knowledge of IP law) and Lessig, where I record a "transcript" of my asking LL questions and then providing answers mocked up from sussing out salient points in his book.

Problem is, I simply don't have time to do it, so consider this idea covered under CC (att-nc). ;)

Sounds like a great idea for a graduate class on IP, a great way for students to demonstrate they they have absorbed some of the ideas in the text.

I don't know. But the hassle alone of acquiring permission might take more time than it would to record at least a few of the chapters on audio . Which is one point underestimated about CC licensed texts: that we don't have to worry about whether we want to seek permission, find out who to get in contact with to get permission, negotiate over price, sign legal contracts, and work with lawyer-speak. Think of it as a quality of life benefit :)

Yeah, I thought about that and almost put it in the ADA category too.

CultureCat

by David Weinberger.

CultureCat

What's also nice is that Weinberger can make derivatives of the cover under the CC license :)