5 Free Download of Modern Classics every 2 weeks

[achickey]

[Link deleted by moderator]

Found this site looking for Nevil Shutes "on the Beach" - Seems totally legit.
Stress's that hes not breaking any copyright laws - and I assume as the sites been up and running for some time that hes correct. Deal is you can Lend 5 books from his library evey 2 weeks, you return them by deleting them from your system. If you donate $20, the limit doubles to 10.

I had a look at the librabry he has and, for me, I think the selection is pretty good - Modern classic's.

Anyway - check it out

[HarryT]

This is most definitely NOT a "legit" site - it's a totally illegal "pirate" site.

Link deleted.

[achickey]

Ok, I have just looked at the Legal section of the said website, and realised that its basically giving the "fingers up" to copyright, as the servers etc are based in countries that do not recognise copyright infringment.

Sorry. I was convinced it was an above board site, I would not have posted the thread if i did not think it was anything but. I had assume this was similar to the WOWIO site, but on a less grander scale.

Question for you then, Can I make/download books that I already own? Is this copyright infringement??

I have bought books since I was about 11 yrs old, I read at least 3 a week, I have bought multiple copies of the same book many times (you know how it goes, lends and book and never get it back).

Now I have the PRS505 and like a kid in a sweet shop am trying to load evey book that I have and every book i want to read onto it, so am trawling the web looking for downloads. I have found many many illegal sites, and the search for legal downloads seems to be harder than i first thought.

[rlauzon]

Originally Posted by achickey

Question for you then, Can I make/download books that I already own? Is this copyright infringement??

I don't believe that there's any definitive judgment on this yet.

In the U.S., it's perfectly legal to time/space shift content you have purchased. So if I have a CD, I can make MP3s from it to put on my MP3 player. I can rip my DVDs to my portable video player.

By extension, I should be able to make eBook versions of my paper books to read on my eBook reader.

I believe that how you acquire the electronic version of your content is irrelevant. What's the difference between you ripping your DVD and downloading the same movie? The end result is the same. (The person who is making the content available electronically is in trouble, however.)

But others disagree on this thinking that content can be "illegal". (These are usually the same people who think that ideas can be owned like property.)

[cmbs]

I don't think it's infringement to scan books you already own and keep the file for yourself. It is infringement to distribute them if they're copyrighted. I think it's infringement to download them against copyright, but even if it isn't, it's infringement for them to be available in the first place. The US government has a nice copyright website, and it's a pretty basic concept: if it's copyrighted, and you don't own the copyright or the legal authority to distribute, you can't distribute. There are a lot of books legally available out of copyright, there are some (and the number is growing) that are legally available through creative commons licences. There are some that are available as special offers and such, often announced at mobile read. You can check the wiki free ebooks page for legal free download sites.

[cmbs]

Originally Posted by rlauzon

I don't believe that there's any definitive judgment on this yet.

In the U.S., it's perfectly legal to time/space shift content you have purchased. So if I have a CD, I can make MP3s from it to put on my MP3 player. I can rip my DVDs to my portable video player.

By extension, I should be able to make eBook versions of my paper books to read on my eBook reader.

I believe that how you acquire the electronic version of your content is irrelevant. What's the difference between you ripping your DVD and downloading the same movie? The end result is the same. (The person who is making the content available electronically is in trouble, however.)

But others disagree on this thinking that content can be "illegal". (These are usually the same people who think that ideas can be owned like property.)

A person can spend a lot of time, money, talent, effort to write a book or create anything - it doesn't have to be a book. Their creation belongs to them. They can sell it or give it away as they please. It's not for other people to steal it as if they have some automatic right to it. It's not that difficult of a concept for people interested in respecting the rights of others, and I imagine it's not that difficult for anyone who's ever worked hard at creating something just to have it stolen by disrespectful people who think everything in the world belongs to them.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by cmbs

I don't think it's infringement to scan books you already own and keep the file for yourself.

The law on this varies from country to country. It appears to be legal in the US, but it's definitely not legal under UK law. Having said that, it's highly unlikely anyone in the UK would be hassled about scanning a book for purely personal use that they'd legally bought.

[Sparrow]

Originally Posted by cmbs

A person can spend a lot of time, money, talent, effort to write a book or create anything - it doesn't have to be a book. Their creation belongs to them. They can sell it or give it away as they please. It's not for other people to steal it as if they have some automatic right to it. It's not that difficult of a concept for people interested in respecting the rights of others...

Doesn't always apply.
In chess for example, a player can spend years finding a winning idea - but the instant they play it, it becomes public property.
There is also the controversial example of many protective covers for ebook devices - that leather took a long time to create; but the creator didn't even have a right to their own skin. (Rather puts squabbles about intellectual property in the shade imho.)

The issue of who has what rights, and when, can be a tricky one.

[rlauzon]

Originally Posted by cmbs

A person can spend a lot of time, money, talent, effort to write a book or create anything - it doesn't have to be a book. Their creation belongs to them.

You are confusing physical property and ideas.

Ideas cannot be owned. That's why patent and copyright laws exist. If ideas can be owned (like a car), there would be no need for patent/copyright laws.

[pilotbob]

Originally Posted by rlauzon

You are confusing physical property and ideas.

Ideas cannot be owned. That's why patent and copyright laws exist. If ideas can be owned (like a car), there would be no need for patent/copyright laws.

Please stop. There are plenty of threads specifically for this topic.

[Liviu_5]

Originally Posted by pilotbob

Please stop. There are plenty of threads specifically for this topic.

Why ask for the stop here and not earlier when copyright infringement = theft appeared the first time??

I completely agree with deleting links to illegitimate sites, but asking people to stop based on opinion expressed politely smacks of censorship.

[pilotbob]

Originally Posted by Liviu_5

Why ask for the stop here and not earlier when copyright infringement = theft appeared the first time??

I completely agree with deleting links to illegitimate sites, but asking people to stop based on opinion expressed politely smacks of censorship.

The topic was about that site, then it turned to DRM/Piracy. I don't want to censor that topic, just hope to limit it to the threads where it is the reason for the thread. That's all. Opps, once again we are off topic. Sorry folks.

Bob

[Alisa]

Originally Posted by Liviu_5

Why ask for the stop here and not earlier when copyright infringement = theft appeared the first time??

That assumes he was reading the thread at that time and chose not to reply until now.