Neil Gaiman posted a new phone number for Rattlebag.
(01) 208 2822
Read the rest of his post where basically he tells someone it is ok to take out an mp3 cd of Anasi Boys from the Library and put it in your Nano. This is being enlightened. This is being cool. This is being someone that can still earn a crust without having to stomp all over a persons freedoms and put a knife to their throat and demand money, though if he did he could do it in such a stylish way.
If you’d checked out the MP3 CD from your library you’d be expected to put it onto your iPod, after all. There’s a weird sort of ethical fogginess, in that I suspect that part of the idea of libraries is that when you’re done with something you return it, and of course once you have your MP3 on your computer and iPod you can keep it forever. But I think this is just one of those places where changes in technology move faster than the rules.
If you’re listening to it, and you’ve got an iPod or suchlike MP3 player, you’re almost definitely going to listen to it on your iPod. That’s how things are, and it’s a good thing (it’s why I got Harper Collins to release American Gods and Anansi Boys on MP3 CD, after all).
Probably wisest not to pull it off your iPod and give it to other people, though. Let them at least take it out of the library themselves.