Bottom line is, you think you're purchasing an e-book. You buy it, it's yours -- albeit in digital form -- right? If it's yours, you can do what you want with it, right? Wrong on both counts! What they're selling you is a *limited license* to enjoy that content on certain platforms, within the limits imposed by them. You don't own the content -- at all. You're *not* at liberty to do with it the same (or analogous to what) you could do with a physical book.

I think this dichotomy, that what you perceive to be being is different than what is actually being sold, is what causes the drift between publishers and consumers.

> An app where everybody gives you money? No wonder you think it's decent. ;-)

LOL. If only I was keeping the money to myself... but alas, I'm not.

Thanks for the time and the insightful answer. I think we're on the same page. I'm really trying to make a legitimate, useful thing here, that will help people interact and feel good.

The app allows you to say what you want for your birthday, add a comment, then whomever contributes also gets to vote on which gift they think is the best, and send you a message along with their contribution.

I'll be the first to say that almost all facebook apps are pretty useless. Probably 95% are a twist on the ididotic "poke" concept.

[full disclosure: start shameless self-promotion]

That's why I built a decent facebook app. You can see it at http://apps.facebook.com/birthdayfund/ (or http://www.thebirthdayfund.com/).
Basically it just facilitates creating a birthday fund for yourself or for someone else, so instead of getting a few "meh" gifts, you can get whatever you really want. Everybody wins. :-)

Possibly like me or tons of slashdot readers you're a developer with big or cool ideas. Best of luck to you, and if you want to help someone out with theirs, please check out the app on facebook and let me know what you think.