MobileRead Forums - View Single Post

ChrisC333 · 03-23-2010, 04:34 AM

Thanks for a great read jabberwock_11.

I'm sure that the points you eloquently raised are common to the experiences of many customers, not just with books but with music, games and software in general. I suspect that the e-book scene will unfold in much the same way.

When I bought my first home computer around 25 years ago, it came with a couple of basic disks and the rest you mostly just swapped and copied with other enthusiasts. This was pretty much the only way to get anything here then as there were no local games shops as such, and very limited availability of software of any kind for small computers. Back then, most us began our computer days as minor pirates.

Then there were a number of "Intermediate Years" when I bought games and other software, but made an exception when it came to buying more than one copy of anything from a certain well known maker of operating system software. I figured I'd paid them at least once and I wasn't running a business. I didn't feel like I needed to keep paying them over and over again for what were fairly modest improvements on the same things.

But as I got older and richer - or less poor anyway - I found that I could finally afford a more up-market conscience. Now I pay for everything, and seem to like it that way. Astonishingly, all 7 computers around the house have their own individual legal software licences for everything that's running on them No more dodgy copies of W*nd*ws, no ripped copies of games. Even the mp3s were bought or legitimately converted from my CD collection.

So now it's on to the world of e-books.... will I slide back to the old wicked ways, or keep the halo bright??

I'm already comfortable with both freely borrowing books from friends and lending them my own legal printed copies. I'm also happy to request a book (also for free) through the public library system if it's no longer stocked locally. I've also downloaded a goodly swag of free out of copyright material. All legal of course. And a new 2nd hand bookshop opened in the local town yesterday. I was its first ever customer. I bought $25 worth of books - of which a grand total of 0c will go to the authors and publishers. Should that bother me?

But would I use the e-book darknet if I couldn't get a book any other way? Particularly if, as you suggest, I had already paid for a printed version would I feel that had ethically given me a 'licence to read'?? Perhaps.

At this stage I've no idea how to even access the darknet, so it's all a bit academic. But it's certainly food for thought.

My feeling are probably pretty similar to yours - it won't matter much what any of us think the legal or ethical position is. Unless the publishers pull their fingers out and make the business of buying e-books seem appealing, comfortable, straightforward, satisfying and generally "right" then they'll find that a big percentage of people will simply either rip them off, or ignore them altogether. Books are hardly the only way to read a bit of fiction or non-fiction when you have the entire Internet at your fingertips.

03-23-2010, 04:34 AM	#5
ChrisC333 Groupie Posts: 194 Karma: 2031 Join Date: Mar 2010 Location: West Australia Device: Acer eM250 Netbook, iTouch, iRiver Story, HP TM2 Tablet	Thanks for a great read jabberwock_11. I'm sure that the points you eloquently raised are common to the experiences of many customers, not just with books but with music, games and software in general. I suspect that the e-book scene will unfold in much the same way. When I bought my first home computer around 25 years ago, it came with a couple of basic disks and the rest you mostly just swapped and copied with other enthusiasts. This was pretty much the only way to get anything here then as there were no local games shops as such, and very limited availability of software of any kind for small computers. Back then, most us began our computer days as minor pirates. Then there were a number of "Intermediate Years" when I bought games and other software, but made an exception when it came to buying more than one copy of anything from a certain well known maker of operating system software. I figured I'd paid them at least once and I wasn't running a business. I didn't feel like I needed to keep paying them over and over again for what were fairly modest improvements on the same things. But as I got older and richer - or less poor anyway - I found that I could finally afford a more up-market conscience. Now I pay for everything, and seem to like it that way. Astonishingly, all 7 computers around the house have their own individual legal software licences for everything that's running on them No more dodgy copies of Wndws, no ripped copies of games. Even the mp3s were bought or legitimately converted from my CD collection. So now it's on to the world of e-books.... will I slide back to the old wicked ways, or keep the halo bright?? I'm already comfortable with both freely borrowing books from friends and lending them my own legal printed copies. I'm also happy to request a book (also for free) through the public library system if it's no longer stocked locally. I've also downloaded a goodly swag of free out of copyright material. All legal of course. And a new 2nd hand bookshop opened in the local town yesterday. I was its first ever customer. I bought $25 worth of books - of which a grand total of 0c will go to the authors and publishers. Should that bother me? But would I use the e-book darknet if I couldn't get a book any other way? Particularly if, as you suggest, I had already paid for a printed version would I feel that had ethically given me a 'licence to read'?? Perhaps. At this stage I've no idea how to even access the darknet, so it's all a bit academic. But it's certainly food for thought. My feeling are probably pretty similar to yours - it won't matter much what any of us think the legal or ethical position is. Unless the publishers pull their fingers out and make the business of buying e-books seem appealing, comfortable, straightforward, satisfying and generally "right" then they'll find that a big percentage of people will simply either rip them off, or ignore them altogether. Books are hardly the only way to read a bit of fiction or non-fiction when you have the entire Internet at your fingertips. Last edited by ChrisC333; 03-23-2010 at 05:31 AM. Reason: Length reduction.