https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/api.php?action=feedcontributions&feedformat=atom&user=174.78.196.34 2026-07-08T17:32:20Z User contributions MediaWiki 1.30.0 https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=294:_Bookstore&diff=38467 2013-05-25T19:24:28Z

<p>174.78.196.34: /* Explanation */</p> <hr /> <div>{{comic<br /> | number =294<br /> | date =July 27, 2007<br /> | title =Bookcase<br /> | image =bookstore.png<br /> | titletext =You can search it if you want, but you may want to skip the memories of your mom.<br /> }}<br /> <br /> ==Explanation==<br /> {{Incomplete|I'm pretty sure this is a dig on DRM, and the explanation is pretty much just a summary anyways.}}<br /> [[Cueball]] starts reading a book off the shelf as he considers buying it, but gets so engrossed in it that he accidentally reads the entire thing, eliminating his reason for buying it in the first place. Quietly putting it back, he turns to leave the store, only to have the book (which exists in his brain as information) set off the store's anti-theft sensor. This is a satire of copyright as it pertains to digital copies, because when you download a game or music file (or read a book, in this case), you are merely making an identical copy of the source material.<br /> <br /> The title text suggests that if the security guard wants to do a brain search, he might want to skip over all the sexual encounters Cueball's had with his mom.<br /> <br /> ==Transcript==<br /> :[Cueball is standing in a bookstore, looking at a book.]<br /> :Cueball: This book looks interesting. Maybe I'll buy it.<br /> :[Cueball reads the book; a clock appears above showing the passage of time.]<br /> :Cueball: Oops, I read the whole thing.<br /> :Cueball: I'll just quietly put it back and go.<br /> :[Cueball walks through a security scanner to exit the bookstore.]<br /> :''BEEP BEEP BEEP''<br /> :Voice from off-frame: Hey! Your brain set off the sensor!<br /> :Cueball: I, uhh...<br /> :Voice from off-frame: You have a book in there, don't you!<br /> :Cueball: Crap.<br /> <br /> {{comic discussion}}<br /> [[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]</div>

174.78.196.34