Register Guidelines E-Books Search Today's Posts Mark Forums Read

Go Back   MobileRead Forums > E-Book General > News

Notices

Reply
 
Thread Tools Search this Thread
Old 08-03-2009, 01:28 PM   #1
andyafro
Connoisseur
andyafro doesn't litterandyafro doesn't litter
 
Posts: 98
Karma: 140
Join Date: Jun 2007
Device: sony reader prs-500
ebook piracy

Just read this article

Code:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology...d-books-piracy

He's talking rubbish first thing you do when you buy an ebook device is go looking for free books, main reason ebooks havnt taken off is cos an ebook device cost so much, you can buy alot of dead tree books for £300, its only those who read all the time who pay out for them, plus they taking the piss charging the same amount for a ebook as a dead tree, takes 2 mins to make a ebook and at no extra cost really (its on the publishers pc before it go's to print) its not taking off cos they taking the mick charging like that and if that company go's bust all them books you bought are worthless. DRM & price is whats slowing it down. make an ebook device for £50 and everyone will have one.

Microsoft should bring out a cheap ms reader device.
andyafro is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 08-03-2009, 01:41 PM   #2
rcuadro
Wizard
rcuadro ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.rcuadro ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.rcuadro ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.rcuadro ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.rcuadro ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.rcuadro ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.rcuadro ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.rcuadro ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.rcuadro ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.rcuadro ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.rcuadro ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.
 
rcuadro's Avatar
 
Posts: 1,686
Karma: 874275
Join Date: Nov 2008
Location: Virginia Beach, VA
Device: Kindle DX
I dont think he is talking rubbish. I think his thoughts on the music industry and dead on. I think the biggest problem is that, generally, people do not read... but damn near everyone I know listens to music be it on the radio or an MP3 player. Or they dont read enough to purchase an eBook reader to turn around and purchase books. it is simpler for them to just spend some money on a paper back and call it a day. Or even better, go to the thrift store and get a book for a damn quarter.
Piracy will not help the eBook industry. Every book that is pirated becomes another excuse why authors dont release books electronically.
The general public needs to read more before eBooks become as popular as MP3's...
rcuadro is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 08-03-2009, 01:46 PM   #3
rcuadro
Wizard
rcuadro ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.rcuadro ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.rcuadro ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.rcuadro ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.rcuadro ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.rcuadro ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.rcuadro ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.rcuadro ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.rcuadro ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.rcuadro ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.rcuadro ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.
 
rcuadro's Avatar
 
Posts: 1,686
Karma: 874275
Join Date: Nov 2008
Location: Virginia Beach, VA
Device: Kindle DX
Oh, and the proce on the ebook readers I dont think is as big an issue as people make it out to be. I think the real issue is the lack of an eBook standard. Or at least readers that can display the popular formats. There are popuat formats out there like MOBi and ePub but you may be hard pressed to find a reader that can support them both. What about PDF?
Hell, I wished my Kindle 2 would read PDF's and ePubs right out of the box....

As far as DRM is concerned, I wish there was a way to tie the purchases to an individual and not a device. That way I would be free to purchase a different brand reader in the future and still be able to use my legally purchased items.
rcuadro is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 08-03-2009, 01:50 PM   #4
Penforhire
Wizard
Penforhire ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.Penforhire ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.Penforhire ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.Penforhire ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.Penforhire ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.Penforhire ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.Penforhire ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.Penforhire ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.Penforhire ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.Penforhire ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.Penforhire ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.
 
Posts: 2,230
Karma: 7145404
Join Date: Nov 2007
Location: Southern California
Device: Kindle Voyage & iPhone 7+
He's rubbish because the total number of people using e-readers is still tiny compared to paper books. E-book piracy is thriving very well, considering what can be found with zero effort on the darknet. An honest survey of the dishonest would show, IMO, that technically savvy users are pirating at similar rates to music piracy. It is just we don't have as many e-readers as DAP's (digital audio players) yet.

There is an entire market segment among Kindle users who purchased that device because it requires almost no computer literacy and makes purchases easy and painless (ignoring what happens if the DRM server or Amazon ever dies). I can believe there is reduced piracy in that particular group.
Penforhire is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 08-03-2009, 02:26 PM   #5
khalleron
Kate
khalleron ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.khalleron ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.khalleron ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.khalleron ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.khalleron ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.khalleron ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.khalleron ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.khalleron ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.khalleron ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.khalleron ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.khalleron ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.
 
khalleron's Avatar
 
Posts: 1,677
Karma: 3165009
Join Date: Mar 2009
Location: Oregon, United States
Device: Nexus 7 2013, Kobo Aura H2O, Kobo Forma
Quote:
Originally Posted by rcuadro View Post
Oh, and the proce on the ebook readers I dont think is as big an issue as people make it out to be. I think the real issue is the lack of an eBook standard. Or at least readers that can display the popular formats. There are popuat formats out there like MOBi and ePub but you may be hard pressed to find a reader that can support them both.
You CAN'T find a dedicated reader that will support them both, because Mobipocket (owned by Amazon) won't allow it! If you have DRM/mobi, you can't have DRM/anything-else.

You can, however, have any or all other formats supported on the same reader, just not mobi.
khalleron is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 08-03-2009, 03:13 PM   #6
Who are you?
Groupie
Who are you? ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.Who are you? ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.Who are you? ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.Who are you? ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.Who are you? ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.Who are you? ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.Who are you? ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.Who are you? ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.Who are you? ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.Who are you? ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.Who are you? ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.
 
Who are you?'s Avatar
 
Posts: 184
Karma: 300001
Join Date: May 2009
Device: 505
Paper books aren't that expensive to make, think around the $1 mark. Selling an ebook for $15 doesn't mean that much more profit than selling a paper book for $15.

And MS already have a free reader application for your smartphone/pda, so you could be reading ebooks at no additional cost.
Who are you? is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 08-03-2009, 03:19 PM   #7
cstross
Cynic
cstross will become famous soon enoughcstross will become famous soon enoughcstross will become famous soon enoughcstross will become famous soon enoughcstross will become famous soon enoughcstross will become famous soon enough
 
Posts: 86
Karma: 514
Join Date: Jul 2007
Location: Edinburgh, Scotland
Device: Lots, started with a Psion 3 circa 1998
Quote:
Originally Posted by Who are you? View Post
Paper books aren't that expensive to make, think around the $1 mark.
Actually more like 70 cents for a paperback, but $2-3 for a hardcover.

What eats up the cover price is the distribution chain -- wholesalers and retailers between them trouser about 70% of the cover price, leaving 10% for the author, 10% for manufacturing costs, and 10% for the publisher.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Who are you? View Post
Selling an ebook for $15 doesn't mean that much more profit than selling a paper book for $15.
Correct. Moreover, the publishers have cunningly decided that an ebook is simply a new edition of a book, and must therefore be "printed" and "distributed" exactly the same way, so that royalties can be accounted for using existing bookkeeping methods. The result is an inane concept called an "ebook warehouse", where imaginary books are stored until a bookstore decides to take them to stack on imaginary shelves until a punter buys them, or until they're returned for credit (with imaginary covers stripped)!

Way to lose 70% of the revenue stream (or the opportunity to deliver price cuts direct to the public as a purchasing incentive), guys.
cstross is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 08-03-2009, 03:20 PM   #8
AnemicOak
Bookaholic
AnemicOak ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.AnemicOak ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.AnemicOak ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.AnemicOak ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.AnemicOak ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.AnemicOak ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.AnemicOak ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.AnemicOak ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.AnemicOak ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.AnemicOak ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.AnemicOak ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.
 
AnemicOak's Avatar
 
Posts: 14,391
Karma: 54969924
Join Date: Oct 2007
Location: Minnesota
Device: iPad Mini 4, AuraHD, iPhone XR +
Quote:
Originally Posted by Who are you? View Post
Paper books aren't that expensive to make, think around the $1 mark. Selling an ebook for $15 doesn't mean that much more profit than selling a paper book for $15.
It's not a ton, but it's more than $1 in most cases (at least for HC). A couple big things ebooks don't have are warehousing and returns to the publisher which are a big cost.
AnemicOak is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 08-03-2009, 05:29 PM   #9
pdurrant
The Grand Mouse 高貴的老鼠
pdurrant ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.pdurrant ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.pdurrant ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.pdurrant ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.pdurrant ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.pdurrant ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.pdurrant ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.pdurrant ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.pdurrant ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.pdurrant ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.pdurrant ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.
 
pdurrant's Avatar
 
Posts: 71,406
Karma: 305065800
Join Date: Jul 2007
Location: Norfolk, England
Device: Kindle Voyage
Ah - if you print 10,000 paperbacks, you might be able to get them printed and shipped to a warehouse for $10,000. And then you ship 10,000 out to bookstores - whoopee.

And then after six weeks, the bookstores destroy 5,000 of them, sending you back 5,000 covers ripped off the ones that didn't sell.

Suddenly that $1/book looks a lot like $2/book.

Which is a big chunk out of that $7.99 paperback you printed.


Quote:
Originally Posted by Who are you? View Post
Paper books aren't that expensive to make, think around the $1 mark. Selling an ebook for $15 doesn't mean that much more profit than selling a paper book for $15.
pdurrant is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 08-03-2009, 05:46 PM   #10
K-Thom
The one and only
K-Thom ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.K-Thom ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.K-Thom ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.K-Thom ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.K-Thom ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.K-Thom ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.K-Thom ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.K-Thom ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.K-Thom ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.K-Thom ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.K-Thom ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.
 
Posts: 3,302
Karma: 535819
Join Date: Oct 2008
Location: Berlin, Germany
Device: yup!
Quote:
E-book piracy is thriving very well, considering what can be found with zero effort on the darknet
Don't confuse leechers with readers. Actually the active eBookz scene is rather small. The people scanning and proof-reading and formatting usually know each other. Some of them even would like the illegal scene to be closed to leechers, which are the ones who cause the problems by distributing without thinking.

And as much as I believe that most of the music leechers download is actually heard by them as most movies may be watched, I think very little of the literature is actually read. If it would be, these people simply wouldn't find the time to download all this material.
Reading still is a time-consuming hobby. You either download a lot or read a lot.
K-Thom is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 08-03-2009, 05:50 PM   #11
Moejoe
Banned
Moejoe did not drink the Kool Aid.Moejoe did not drink the Kool Aid.Moejoe did not drink the Kool Aid.Moejoe did not drink the Kool Aid.Moejoe did not drink the Kool Aid.Moejoe did not drink the Kool Aid.Moejoe did not drink the Kool Aid.Moejoe did not drink the Kool Aid.Moejoe did not drink the Kool Aid.Moejoe did not drink the Kool Aid.Moejoe did not drink the Kool Aid.
 
Posts: 5,100
Karma: 72193
Join Date: Feb 2009
Location: South of the Border
Device: Coffin
Quote:
Originally Posted by K-Thom View Post
Don't confuse leechers with readers. Actually the active eBookz scene is rather small. The people scanning and proof-reading and formatting usually know each other. Some of them even would like the illegal scene to be closed to leechers, which are the ones who cause the problems by distributing without thinking.

And as much as I believe that most of the music leechers download is actually heard by them as most movies may be watched, I think very little of the literature is actually read.
If it would be, these people simply wouldn't find the time to dowmload all this material. Reading still is a time-consuming hobby. You either download a lot or read a lot.
I'd have to agree. Piracy, of any media, isn't hurting anybody's bottom line. Whatever sells the most product is also the most pirated. Dan Brown books fly of the shelves in book shops, they're downloaded a lot from .torrent sites and newsgroups. The Dark Knight was one of the biggest grossing films of all time, it was also one of the most downloaded. Nobody is hurting from piracy, no matter what the companies actually think.
Moejoe is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 08-03-2009, 05:52 PM   #12
JSWolf
Resident Curmudgeon
JSWolf ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.JSWolf ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.JSWolf ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.JSWolf ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.JSWolf ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.JSWolf ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.JSWolf ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.JSWolf ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.JSWolf ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.JSWolf ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.JSWolf ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.
 
JSWolf's Avatar
 
Posts: 73,654
Karma: 127838196
Join Date: Nov 2006
Location: Roslindale, Massachusetts
Device: Kobo Libra 2, Kobo Aura H2O, PRS-650, PRS-T1, nook STR, PW3
Quote:
Originally Posted by rcuadro View Post
As far as DRM is concerned, I wish there was a way to tie the purchases to an individual and not a device. That way I would be free to purchase a different brand reader in the future and still be able to use my legally purchased items.
The currently best format for that is ePub ad more and more devices take on board ADE with DRM.
JSWolf is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 08-03-2009, 06:36 PM   #13
PKFFW
Wizard
PKFFW ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.PKFFW ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.PKFFW ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.PKFFW ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.PKFFW ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.PKFFW ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.PKFFW ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.PKFFW ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.PKFFW ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.PKFFW ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.PKFFW ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.
 
Posts: 3,678
Karma: 28297636
Join Date: Dec 2008
Device: BeBook, Sony PRS-T1, Kobo H2O
Quote:
Originally Posted by K-Thom View Post
Don't confuse leechers with readers. Actually the active eBookz scene is rather small. The people scanning and proof-reading and formatting usually know each other. Some of them even would like the illegal scene to be closed to leechers, which are the ones who cause the problems by distributing without thinking.

And as much as I believe that most of the music leechers download is actually heard by them as most movies may be watched, I think very little of the literature is actually read. If it would be, these people simply wouldn't find the time to download all this material.
Reading still is a time-consuming hobby. You either download a lot or read a lot.
I'm not going to get into a debate about piracy but......

I find it very easy to leave my computer running and downloading while I'm out in the lounge room reading.

Cheers,
PKFFW
PKFFW is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 08-03-2009, 06:42 PM   #14
rcuadro
Wizard
rcuadro ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.rcuadro ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.rcuadro ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.rcuadro ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.rcuadro ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.rcuadro ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.rcuadro ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.rcuadro ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.rcuadro ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.rcuadro ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.rcuadro ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.
 
rcuadro's Avatar
 
Posts: 1,686
Karma: 874275
Join Date: Nov 2008
Location: Virginia Beach, VA
Device: Kindle DX
Quote:
Originally Posted by khalleron View Post
You CAN'T find a dedicated reader that will support them both, because Mobipocket (owned by Amazon) won't allow it! If you have DRM/mobi, you can't have DRM/anything-else.
I know, though I still wish they will eventually come up with a standard...
rcuadro is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 08-03-2009, 07:51 PM   #15
fugazied
Wizard
fugazied once ate a cherry pie in a record 7 seconds.fugazied once ate a cherry pie in a record 7 seconds.fugazied once ate a cherry pie in a record 7 seconds.fugazied once ate a cherry pie in a record 7 seconds.fugazied once ate a cherry pie in a record 7 seconds.fugazied once ate a cherry pie in a record 7 seconds.fugazied once ate a cherry pie in a record 7 seconds.fugazied once ate a cherry pie in a record 7 seconds.fugazied once ate a cherry pie in a record 7 seconds.fugazied once ate a cherry pie in a record 7 seconds.fugazied once ate a cherry pie in a record 7 seconds.
 
fugazied's Avatar
 
Posts: 1,305
Karma: 1958
Join Date: Jan 2009
Device: iPod Touch
Honestly I think people who shell out $300 for a reader don't mind paying for books, but many of those kinds of customers HATE DRM and hate the possibility that they are 'renting' ebooks rather than buying them. Also they hate the fact they can't loan an ebook to a friend.

For those reasons you sometimes get affluent people pirating books. The publishers pretty much shoot themselves in the foot with DRM. There are already very cheap chinese no-name readers, so DRM and ebook pricing are what's hurting them.
fugazied is offline   Reply With Quote
Reply

Thread Tools Search this Thread
Search this Thread:

Advanced Search

Forum Jump

Similar Threads
Thread Thread Starter Forum Replies Last Post
Massive wave of ebook piracy? fjtorres News 608 11-10-2010 11:52 AM
ebook piracy numbers sassanik General Discussions 212 08-21-2010 02:41 AM
eBook piracy, how common is it? Stringer News 920 05-01-2009 10:33 AM
Is ebook piracy on the rise? charlieperry News 594 08-20-2008 07:00 PM
Ebook Piracy JSWolf News 130 12-31-2007 12:34 PM


All times are GMT -4. The time now is 03:33 PM.


MobileRead.com is a privately owned, operated and funded community.