Quote:
Originally Posted by speakingtohe
Ebook piracy is pretty wide spread though and you don't need a bank loan to buy a book or two a week. Those who used to buying and now pirate ebooks would be hard put to claim financial hardship. Plus in many first world countries at least there is a very good library selection available in most locations.
Helen
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Actually, you might just need that loan. I recently paid $10+ for an urban fantasy ebook. That's a ridiculous price and I can't afford to do that on a regular basis, much less buy two or more per week. And my library system is sorely lacking in regard to that genre in both print and ebook versions, so that is not an option. Folks who pirate don't always do so because they can pay but choose not to; they might be doing It because they can no longer pay the over-priced cost due to a change In their financial circumstances. Not everyone who retires, for example, is in the same financial place they were as when they were working - not everyone has investment income and paid-off homes or an income commensurate with the one they had when they were working. Yet the desire to read what they want is still there. Ditto folks who have been laid-off or who've become ill or disabled.
Avid readers are just people with a socially-sanctioned addiction. And they will feed that addiction no matter how their financial circumstances change, just like any addict.
I think that's the point that is consistently overlooked in all of these discussions.
Organizations (and writers) can try to demonize and attempt to criminalize uploaders and downloaders all they want, but as long as they keep coming at the issue from the wrong direction, they're never going to be able to effectively deal with their perceived problem.