The Electronic Standard Book Numbering database has launched. It lets publishers get a unique ID for each copy of e-content. That makes it very different from ISBNs that provide a unique ID for each edition. So, Bantam would have an ISBN for a new paperback edition of Hamlet, and if they sold it in electronic format, each “copy” could have its own ESBN. It’s all part of the attempt to impose the restrictions of the physical on the digital, enforcing scarcity where there is none.

The site gives no information about who is behind it, which turns out to be Chris Matthieu who calls it a “concept site.” Peter Morville, from whom I heard about ESBN, points in an email to the “Medium Neutral ISSN” as a similar effort, albeit one with some standards bodies and industries groups behind it. [Tags: esbn isbn libraries books EverythingIsMiscellaneous peterMorville]

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