Free libraries and the RIAA

I had this thought while perusing Eric Flint's explanation of the Baen Free Library, which I discovered while browsing the Get Your Hands Dirty forum, which I really ought to contribute to at some point ...

Aren't public libraries a violation of copyright law as interpreted by the Recording Industry Association of America? I mean, here are people who buy one copy of a book and share it with hundreds and thousands of people, stealing royalties from the authors who otherwise would reap the benefits of selling that book over and over again to those readers.

If we apply the same principle that the RIAA uses to collect fees from radio stations and bars based on how many times they play a certain song, then some book-sellers group should be collecting fees from libraries based on how often each book is borrowed. It only makes sense.

Charging royalties to libraries for sharing books with people who didn't pay for them will make oodles of money for the starving authors, right? Well, no, of course not, and Flint's essay pretty much explains why.

Which reminds me ... this is the reason I've been meaning to post The Imaginary Bomb somewhere, so you can read it rather than listen to Bluhm read it, and then, of course, buy the book. First I have to publish the book, though ... I really oughtta get that done in time for the Christmas season ...