03-24-2008, 10:17 PM | #61 |
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I really should read the first book in the series and then if it's good check out the Gazette.
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03-24-2008, 11:29 PM | #62 |
Wizard
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1632 is in Free Library, Jon.
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03-24-2008, 11:43 PM | #63 |
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03-25-2008, 12:06 AM | #64 | |
space cadet
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And please, do NOT accuse me of being a thief. I have NEVER downloaded ANYTHING from the darknet. Even worse, I have NEVER BROKEN the DRM on an ebook. So far, I've just resisted buying anything with drm, with very limited exceptions. I have ONE book for my Rocket with drm that I have not subsequently found LEGALLY available without encryption (thank you BAEN for releasing Miller & Lee's Liaden books after their previous epublisher went down). I know I can, I think I probably will some day, but I haven't. Yet. (And EOS Books are a pain - I paid a hardback price for an encrypted ebook. I won't again.) |
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03-25-2008, 07:02 AM | #65 | |
Addict
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is that people or companies that use cd's to copy their documents for private storage or in-office use are paying a tax on their own work that's not really fair is it? |
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03-25-2008, 09:05 AM | #66 | |
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I see nothing wrong with such "compromises," as long as it is so minor (a few cents per medium) as to be effectively invisible to the consumer. In fact, if such a thing could be applied to digital files themselves, it might solve some problems. Imagine if your ISP could detect every instance that you e-mailed an e-book or music file to someone else (legal or not), and charged you a few cents per item (like your phone company charging you per text message). If the charge is small enough, no one is going to scream about a few cents extra on their bill. (Well, okay... a few of you surely will.) But anyone who disseminates large volumes of illegal e-books or music files won't stomach the huge ISP bills, and most will stop (or lose their account due to non-payment). Look, Ma... I just cut back on illegal file sharing! There will surely be some who will try to find ISPs that will not charge that extra file, and ISPs who will decide not to charge the "upload tax." Publishers will know those ISP's, too, and will keep an eye on them, making file sharers easier to detect and isolate. It's not what I'd call "fair"... but I would call it a good "compromise" to rein in illegal file sharing. |
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03-25-2008, 09:29 AM | #67 | |||
Kindlephilia
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Second and most important, IMO most people are honest and honorable if given a chance. The assumption of draconian DRM, which is what is used on ebooks, is that everyone is dishonest and will steal the IP and give it away to the world. I would like to be able to legally share some of my ebooks with close friends and relatives but I'm not legally allowed because I've supposedly purchased a license not a piece of property. Quote:
For myself, I will not purchase an ebook that cannot be converted for use on any of my platforms. That means no DRM PDFs... period. Quote:
Once again there will always be pirates, until the pirates can be targeted without seriously inconveniencing me or impinging upon my rights, an honest lawbiding consumer, then DRM is wrong. Especially since most of the ebooks on the Darknet aren't copies of ebooks but scanned and OCRed copies of pbooks that aren't available as ebooks! How the heck does adding DRM to ebooks stop that? All I want to do is read my legally acquired books, not have to spend hours upon hours searching for tools, learning to use the tools, and then using the tools to make my ebooks portable on my devices. Harry T and Steve - I admire and respect both of you but this is a subject we'll have to agree to disagree. |
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03-25-2008, 09:37 AM | #68 | |
Kindlephilia
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I've also read that some ISPs are going after their heavy users by charging them more instead of the flat rate. The heavy users aren't necessarily illegal file sharers but I'm sure that more than a few are. DH and I work at home and heavily use our ISP account. Power pig ^H^H^H^H^H^H^H ... I mean Power Point creates huge files that aren't readily compressed and consume large amounts of bandwidth. I don't mind DRM as long as it doesn't lock me into a device or platform. |
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03-25-2008, 10:06 AM | #69 | ||
Grand Sorcerer
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This is why there are pirates, in a nutshell. They see it as easy to take a book, so they do. If they believe they will be caught and fined, they'll stop. Quote:
DRM application, despite how it may seem to the individual, is not assuming that everyone is dishonest. It is a tool that is designed to deter the bulk of the dishonest people, while still giving honest people access to what they want (when the alternative would be not releasing the digital files to anyone at all). It may not work well--or even at all--but when it's the only tool at their disposal, it's what they use. Hopefully they'll come up with better tools soon. And if we can help by coming up with a better idea, we should do that as fast as we can, to make us all happier. In the meantime, if, as you say, DRM is too much of an inconvenience, you are exactly right to not buy those e-books (I generally don't, either)... and just as important, to get in touch with the publisher and tell them why. If the publisher knows their DRM system only serves to tick you off, they will be more inclined to try and find a better way to do it. (You could pass on to them a few ideas, and even links to this forum... we've come up with a few good ideas to try around here.) |
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03-25-2008, 11:18 AM | #70 | |
Wizard
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Human nature is not to to be a thief...in my view. IMHO, DRM loses/alienates more customers than it "protects" in lost revenue. |
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03-25-2008, 12:07 PM | #71 |
Books and more books
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I completely agree; since for e-books the path of least resistance is to ignore them by and large unless they are free (and even then to a large extent) it boggles my mind why anyone would put more roadblocks. There is already a big uphill fight to get people to look even at free e-books...
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03-25-2008, 12:37 PM | #72 | |
Grand Sorcerer
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Publishers need to be introduced to better ways of doing it, methods that will get them more customers and make them more money. Otherwise, they can't see a good reason to abandon DRM. (And listening to people on these forums yell "Make those books FREE! Or I'll just steal them" isn't giving them a good reason to give it up...) |
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03-25-2008, 01:05 PM | #73 | |
fruminous edugeek
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People who really have just about no money and don't get paid much per hour may be able to afford spending hours sifting through the darknet looking for stuff, but for most people, their time is worth more than what they're going to get back. Except in the case of content that simply isn't available otherwise, of course, like out-of-print books. I count those as "abandonware." |
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03-25-2008, 01:42 PM | #74 | ||
Grand Sorcerer
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And funny you should mention the $2 point... I was recently researching the possibility of some price changes of my material, and that number keeps coming up... |
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03-25-2008, 01:52 PM | #75 |
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I'm surprised there aren't more people advocating watermarked ebooks as a good compromise between DRM and complete copying freedom. I've bought quite a few role-playing game books from DrivethruRPG over the years. The earlier ones were all DRMd PDFs, and some of those I've forgotten the passwords of and can no longer access, which is a pain. But DriveThruRPG moved to watermarking a few years ago, and those are great. They're standard PDFs, but they have my name and a serial number very tiny at the bottom of every page. I can still lend them to friends, if I want them to read a section before I run a game, for instance, but I know, and they know, that if I give away copies to anyone, or release them onto the net, it will be extremely obvious who did it. The law is still there as a deterrent to illegal mass copying, but the inconvenience to the purchaser is non-existent.
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