數字時代：只求享用，不求持有

By+Emily+Tamkin

或許大部分人都會理所當然地認為電子書比紙質書便宜，在網上付費看電影比購買電影光盤便宜。所以當亞馬遜上的電子書定價比紙質書還要高，下載高清版電影比購買二手光盤還要貴時，很多人感到疑惑不解。但如果換個角度思考，電子版帶給我們的除了信息內容，還有便利舒適的使用體驗，也許你就會覺得多付的錢是值得的。

Were increasingly paying extra to get the digital version of a book or movie.

我們正在為數字版書籍或電影支付越來越多的錢。

Imagine， for a moment， that you want to buy The Complete Works of Primo Levi1 edited by talented translator Ann Goldstein. If you were to buy a new version of the hardcover2 collection on Amazon， the price is$58.40. If， however， you decided that rather than adorning3 your shelves with Levi， you wanted to download it to your e-reader， saving yourself paper and time， you would need to pay $59.49. It would cost you more not to physically own the books.

Of course， its just a difference of $1.09. But spend some time on Amazon and a trend becomes clear： Many （though certainly not all） digital versions cost more than their physical counterparts4. The Blu-ray Disc of the Christmas classic Love Actually costs a very reasonable $8.68， but to download and buy the HD5 version on Amazon Video costs $14.99. （To download and rent it costs $3.99， while a used version is only$2.37）. Download Beyoncés6 Lemonade from Apple to your iPhone for $17.99， but get the CD on Amazon for just $15.76.

Certainly this is far from the case in every instance—there are lots of examples of the digital version being cheaper than the physical. But the list will only get longer， raising the question： Why are we increasingly paying more money to not actually have the thing were buying？ Amazon and Apple acknowledged receipt of but did not respond to requests for comment. But while we cannot know their official answers， we can nevertheless speculate7 as to why were now paying more to own without physically owning.

For one thing， weve reached a point at which its the digital version that wont let us down. Mark Dean， assistant professor in the Department of Economics at Columbia University， surmised in an email that while he could try to create “some clever behavioral econ explanation，”8 he thinks the real answer is that we are paying more to download because we are learning to trust the digital， easily available version. It used to be that to have the physical copy was to have reliability and consistency. But that isnt true anymore， he said. The internet is now reliable， and with it Amazon and Netflix9. In fact， theyre more durable than the physical copy， as anyone who has scratched10 a CD or had a package get lost in the mail or misplaced a beloved book would likely agree.

Weve also come to see the digital version as superior in some ways. Mark Armstrong， professor of economics at the University of Oxford， noted in an email that well shell out11 for things like being able to quickly consume a product wherever one wants， or clicking on a word reading to see its definition， or skipping to the place in a book where a character first appears. Furthermore， he said， digital copies dont take up any space in a home office or university library， and perhaps more importantly， its the “only way to get immediate access from your sofa.” All of which is to say that we pay more for digital copies not only because they are more reliable， but also because they are more convenient.

Physical formats， on the other hand， so quickly become outdated. Richard Wilks， anthropologist and co-director of Indiana Universitys Food Institute， noted in a phone interview that millennials （of course its the millennials） have seen their parents lug VHS tapes to Goodwill.12 In other words， they have seen， and are currently seeing， the technologies with which they themselves grew up become obsolete13. Why pay extra for the DVD when you know your next computer probably wont have a DVD drive？

This is true， of course， true of movies and music， but not of books. What is true of all three， however， is that the digital version is often more trusted and more convenient， and that the digital is an accepted part of the way we live now. （Consider how increasingly surprising it is to see someone proudly display DVDs and records. E-books make it harder to show off your erudite14 tastes， alas.）

But not everyone can afford to jump on the ownership by absence bandwagon15， since not everyone has access to that version in the first place. According to the Pew Research Center， 13 percent of adult Americans do not use the internet， and 19 percent of those people said they dont do so because its cost prohibitive16. To Aleenah Mehta， a research fellow at the University of California， Berkeleys Haas Institute， this suggests a third driver behind this trend： People are paying more because the cost is less important than performance and participation in the new economy. That is， this trend exists because people always pay more to be part of the new cool club， and today the cool club is digital.

Whether or not it is indeed hipper to own the digital version， the reality remains that if the most accessible version of culture is 1） not accessible to everyone and 2） the least affordable， then ownership by absence becomes exclusionary.17 Not everyone gets to download culture.

We may be paying a premium for the convenience of digital objects—but theres another cost beyond the extra couple of bucks youre shelling out up-front.18 Mark Lemley， professor of law and director of the Program in Law， Science and Technology at Stanford Law School， said in an email， “customers get fewer rights in a digital copy than they do in a physical copy. I can loan， resell， or tear into pieces my physical book or CD. But the law wont let me do the same thing with the digital copy I ‘buy. ” Were paying more to be legally able to do less. Or， as Aaron Fellmeth has put it in Future Tense， “You bought it， but you dont own it.”

This， qualms19 serious and subtle aside， is the way we pay to own now and may be for the foreseeable future. That doesnt mean weve become any less captivated20 by consumption. As Wilks said， possession is fundamentally human， and while we may change the concept of what and how we possess， well still be possessed by possessions.

We still own things， in other words. We may no longer show how well-read21 we are by displaying hardcover Primo Levi on our bookshelves. But now we can bring his work with us everywhere， without lugging around those heavy books. And well even pay more to do just that.

我偶爾會設想，假如你想購買由優秀翻譯家安·戈德斯坦編輯的《普里莫·萊維全集》，亞馬遜上的新版精裝書售價為58.40美元。但是如果你認為與其用萊維的書裝飾書架，不如把它下載到電子閱讀器上，這樣還節省紙張和時間，那么你需要支付59.49美元，比購買紙質書還要貴。

當然，價格只相差1.09美元，如果你在亞馬遜上花點時間，就會發現一個趨勢日益明顯：很多產品（當然不是全部）的數字版價格高于其實體版。經典圣誕愛情片《真愛至上》的藍光碟定價相當合理——8.68 美元，而從“亞馬遜視頻”上購買下載高清版需要花14.99 美元（租看下載這部電影是3.99 美元，而二手光盤只需2.37 美元）。從蘋果商店下載歌手碧昂絲的專輯《檸檬水》到iPhone上需要支付17.99 美元，而從亞馬遜上買張CD只要15.76美元。

當然很多時候并非如此——很多產品的數字版還是比實體版便宜。但是數字版價格高于實體版的產品只會越來越多，讓我們不禁發問：為什么要花越來越多的錢去購買不能實際持有的產品呢？亞馬遜和蘋果公司都承認收到過相關提問，但沒有給出答復。盡管不知道他們的官方回答，但我們還是可以推測為什么我們要支付更多的錢去購買不能實際持有的東西。

一方面，現在的情況是數字版一般不會讓我們失望。哥倫比亞大學經濟系副教授馬克·迪恩曾在一封郵件中做出猜想，他嘗試給出“某種合理的經濟行為解釋”，認為人們支付更多錢去下載的真正原因在于我們越來越信賴容易獲取的數字版本。在過去，實體產品意味著可靠性和持久性，然而現在情況變了，迪恩說。互聯網變得可靠，使得亞馬遜和奈飛也讓人信賴。其實數字版比實體版更加持久，相信每個刮花過CD、快遞中丟過包裹或忘記把心愛的書放在哪里的人都會同意這一點。

同時我們也認識到數字版在某些方面的優越性。哈佛大學經濟學教授馬克·阿姆斯特朗在一封郵件中指出，我們其實在為一些體驗付費，比如隨時隨地可快速消費的產品，或是閱讀過程中通過點擊某一單詞查看其釋義，或是快速跳到書中某個人物首次出場的地方。他進一步說，數字版不會占據家庭辦公室或大學圖書館的空間，也許更重要的是，它是“窩在沙發上就可獲取的唯一方式”。也就是說，我們為數字版本支付更高的價錢不僅僅因為其可靠性，更因為其便捷性。

另一方面，實體版本迅速地變得過時。人類學家兼印第安納大學食品研究院聯席主任理查德·威爾克斯在電話采訪中說，千禧一代（當然是千禧一代）眼看著父母把沉重的VHS錄像帶拖到慈善舊貨店Goodwill賣掉。換句話說，他們都曾經或者正在見證伴隨他們長大的技術變得過時。如果你知道你的下一臺電腦可能連DVD光驅都沒有的時候，為什么還要花錢去買DVD呢？

當然了，電影和音樂是這樣，但書籍情況不同。然而對于這三樣東西來說，共同點在于數字版通常更值得信賴且更加方便，數字版產品已成為現代生活方式中已被接受的一部分（想想如果現在還有人高調地使用DVD和錄像帶，該是多么令人驚訝！電子書讓你比較難顯擺自己的博學，嗚呼！）。

但并非每個人都能有足夠的錢去趕上這趟“只求享用、不求持有”的時尚潮流，因為首先并非每個人都能獲取數字版本。根據皮尤研究中心，13%的成年美國人不使用互聯網，這些人中的19%說他們不使用互聯網是因為成本太高。加州大學伯克利分校哈斯研究所的研究員阿麗娜·梅塔認為，這個現象揭示了背后促成這一趨勢的第三個因素：人們愿意為數字版支付更高價格是因為在新經濟時代下，價格沒有性能和參與感那么重要。換言之，出現這種趨勢是因為人們愿意花錢去成為時尚潮流的一分子，而當今潮流就是數字化。

不管擁有數字版能否讓人變得更時髦，事實就是如果文化產品的所謂最便捷的版本并非人人可得，且價格令人承擔不起，那么數字版本的所有權就會具有排他性，因為并非人人都能下載。

我們也許為了數字物品的便捷性支付了額外費用——然而，除了首次購買多花了點兒錢之外，你還付出了其他的代價。斯坦福法學院的法學教授及法律、科學與技術項目主任馬克·萊姆利在一封電子郵件中寫道：“人們從數字版中獲得的權利比實體版少。我可以出借、轉賣甚至撕爛我的紙質書或CD，但法律不允許我用‘購買的電子版產品做同樣的事情。”我們花更多的錢，享有的法律權利卻更少。也許正如艾倫·費爾麥斯在專欄“將來時”中所寫的那樣：“你購買了它，但你并不擁有它。”

撇開一些嚴肅而隱約的擔憂，這就是我們現在以及在可預見的未來為獲得擁有權而采取的支付方式。這不意味著消費構成的誘惑有所減少了。正如威爾克斯所言，占有欲是人類的天性，也許占有的內容和方式改變了，但我們仍被占有欲所操控。

換言之，我們仍然擁有數字產品。也許我們再也不用通過書架上普里莫·萊維的精裝書來展現博學，但現在我們可以將他的作品隨身攜帶，而無需背著那些沉重的大部頭。為此，我們甚至愿意付更多的錢。

1. Primo Levi： 普里莫·萊維（1919—1987），猶太裔意大利化學家、小說家，也是納粹大屠殺的幸存者，曾在奧斯維辛集中營里被關押了11個月，他于1947年出版的處女作《如果這是一個人》就記錄了那一段生活。

2. hardcover： 硬皮書，精裝書。

3. adorn： 裝飾。

4. counterpart： 職位（或作用）相當的人，對應的事物。

5. HD： high definition，（電視或錄像）高清晰度的。

6. Beyoncé： 碧昂絲，美國著名流行音樂女歌手。

7. speculate： 推測，猜測。

8. surmise： 猜測，推測；behavioral： 行為的；econ： economic的縮寫。

9. Netflix： 奈飛公司，一家知名在線影片租賃提供商。

10. scratch：（用指甲）撓，抓，（用利器）劃破。

11. shell out： 付款，還賬。

12. lug： 吃力地拖、拉（重物）；VHS： Video Home System 家用錄像系統；Goodwill： 美國的慈善二手店。

13. obsolete： 老式的，過時的。

14. erudite： 博學的，學問精深的。

15. bandwagon： 風尚，潮流。

16. prohibitive：（費用或成本）過分高昂的，負擔不起的。

17. hip： 新潮的，時髦的；exclusionary：排他的。

18. premium： 附加費；buck： 美元（非正式）；up-front： 預付地。

19. qualm： 疑慮，不安，擔憂。

20. captivate： 迷住，迷惑。

21. well-read： 博學的。