Is this a pirate site?

[HansTWN]

Originally Posted by FizzyWater

I'll stick to dogs!

Taking the easy way out, I see. Of course, dogs can't sing and answer the phone. Or say "see you tomorrow" at bed time.

[jgaiser]

Originally Posted by Shaggy

It's not, really. It looks nothing like a library, just some guy distributing copies of copyrighted material that he says come from his "personal" library. Looks like he only allows you 5 downloads because he's trying to get "donations".

Know the site. The 5 download limit is determined on IP address and easily bypassed. Yes it's a pirate site.

[Nakor]

Originally Posted by kennyc

Ah yes. Dogs don't have a change against parrots.

They also don't have a chance against robins, chickadees, or steller's jays. My dachshund has made that quite clear from his efforts to clear them out of 'his' back yard.

[Billjr13]

What about the Norwegian Blue, Pining for the fijords. Beautiful plumage the Norwegian Blue... No This parrot is dead... He's not dead he's just restin'. It's not resting, it's passed on. This parrot is no more. It has ceased to be. It's expired and gone to meet its maker. This is a late parrot. It's a stiff. Bereft of life, it rests in peace. If you hadn't nailed it to the perch, it would be pushing up the daisies. It's rung down the curtain and joined the choir invisible. This is an ex-parrot.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by Shaggy

Makes me wonder what country this site is based out of. This isn't even the grey area of hosting user content, this person is doing direct distribution and taking money for it. I'm shocked he hasn't gotten nailed by the copyright police yet.

The site is in Hong Kong; a place not noted for its rigid enforcement of copyright laws.

[lene1949]

It's strange then that he asks for Euro's and not USDollars

[AlfonsVH]

Take a look at his disclaimer (add disclaimer.php to the base url)

[m-reader]

Originally Posted by Shaggy

Makes me wonder what country this site is based out of. This isn't even the grey area of hosting user content, this person is doing direct distribution and taking money for it. I'm shocked he hasn't gotten nailed by the copyright police yet.

Eastern Europe (fmr USSR countries), Pacific Islands, Middle East, you name it!

[m-reader]

Originally Posted by HarryT

The site is in Hong Kong; a place not noted for its rigid enforcement of copyright laws.

Ah, there you go. I hadn't read your post before commenting.
It's probably harder finding countries that do implement effective restrictions on these sort of web sites rather than vice versa.

[gastan]

Originally Posted by HansTWN

Taking the easy way out, I see. Of course, dogs can't sing and answer the phone. Or say "see you tomorrow" at bed time.

Sue went into the pet shop and immediately spotted a large, beautiful parrot. The sign on the cage said $50.

"Why so little?" Sue asked.

The owner looked at her and said, "Look, I should tell you that this bird used to live in a bawdy house and sometimes it says some pretty vulgar things."

Sue considered and decided to purchase the bird anyway because it was so beautiful. She took it home, hung the cage up, and waited for it to say something. The bird looked around the room, then at her, and said, "New house, new madam."

Sue was a little shocked at the implication but then thought, "That's really not so bad."

When her two teen-age daughters came home from school, the parrot saw them and said, "New house, new madam, new girls."

Sue and her daughters were a bit offended at first but began to laugh, considering how and where the parrot had been raised.

Moments later Sue's husband, Doug, came home from work.

The parrot looked at him and said, "Hi Doug."

Don't trust parrots.

It seems to me no discussion of parrots on a ebook site would be complete without mention of the role the wonderful trained parrot plays in Confederacy of Dunces.

[Hellmark]

Originally Posted by lene1949

It's strange then that he asks for Euro's and not USDollars

Not really when you consider that one euro is worth 1.37 dollars right now. Why not ask for the stronger currency?

[DawnFalcon]

Originally Posted by Nakor

They also don't have a chance against robins, chickadees, or steller's jays.

Or domestic rabbits. I find little yappy dogs treed by a Rabbit bigger than them amusing, I admit.

[HansTWN]

Originally Posted by gastan

Sue went into the pet shop and immediately spotted a large, beautiful parrot. The sign on the cage said $50.

"Why so little?" Sue asked.

The owner looked at her and said, "Look, I should tell you that this bird used to live in a bawdy house and sometimes it says some pretty vulgar things."

Sue considered and decided to purchase the bird anyway because it was so beautiful. She took it home, hung the cage up, and waited for it to say something. The bird looked around the room, then at her, and said, "New house, new madam."

Sue was a little shocked at the implication but then thought, "That's really not so bad."

When her two teen-age daughters came home from school, the parrot saw them and said, "New house, new madam, new girls."

Sue and her daughters were a bit offended at first but began to laugh, considering how and where the parrot had been raised.

Moments later Sue's husband, Doug, came home from work.

The parrot looked at him and said, "Hi Doug."

Don't trust parrots.

Good one! I have another one.

A man goes to a pet shop and sees 3 cages with 3 parrots. He asked the owner how much the first one is. "500", says the owner. "Why so expensive", asks the man. "He can talk", is the reply.

"And the second one?"

"It costs 1000, because it can speak two languages".

The third bird looks very old, with faded plumage. So the customer remarks "this one must be cheaper".

"Oh no, he costs 2000", the owner answers.

"Can he speak three languages?"

"I have no idea what he can do, but the other two call him boss!".


We actually have a lot of fun with ours when he makes the right remark at the right time. Once my wife was sitting in a chair and working. Our parrot was slowly climbing up the side of her chair to get up to her shoulder. My wife looked down at him and he said "what are you looking at?" Even the tone of his voice was perfectly appropriate.

[Marcy]

I will admit to having used this site, for books I wanted. These are books I *wanted* to give money to someone for and was unable to, because they are not available as ebooks. And they are all books I have bought pbook copies of.

The books I downloaded are the Jean Auel books and The Moon is a Harsh Mistress, one of my favorite books of all time. In fact I found the site while searching for a copy, any copy, of TMIAHM. I was practically salivating over the thought of giving someone money to have this book on my reader and the only copy available is a pirate version.

Now comes the "pirate's dilemma." These books are plain text, with OCR errors and no significant formatting. I've taken them and gone through them alongside my pbooks page by page and fixed the OCR errors, added back all the italics and bolding, fixed the formatting including the large caps to start each chapter and given each a table of contents. So, what do I do if the publisher actually finally releases them as ebooks? I would have happily paid for them previously, but now I have several hours invested in each book, such that I would probably balk at paying more than $5 each for an 'official' copy.

I think it goes to show how not releasing things legitimately just creates a black market. But perhaps I'm misguided.

-Marcy