Quote:
Originally Posted by Steve Jordan
Yes, I do (I know... finally!). The only thing is, as sensible as the concept is, it is not practical in the real world (which is why it took me so long to understand).
If you bought one version of a book, you are not automatically granted a licence to purchase another format at a reduced price... not that it's impossible, you could issue coupons with every book or something, it's just that publishers won't do that, in order to make money. So you know you can't go to a store and say, "I own the e-book, so sell me the hardcover at $1.00."
Touching on the morality issue, this is one case where morality clearly takes a back seat to capitalism, and tries to forget it's even in the car.
|
Well, I'm relieved to have finally been able to explain my position clearly.
I agree that the practicality of expecting a discount on the ebook if I already own the hardcover just isn't there, but we were discussing the morality of acquiring, for example, a scanned/OCRd ebook that someone else has prepared, when I already own the pbook. My point is that if the scanning etc. is done by volunteers who don't expect to be compensated for the conversion, there isn't a moral problem with accepting a copy of the scan if one already has paid for the pbook.
Now, there's a separate problem that the way these scans are usually distributed is by effectively broadcasting them to anyone who wants them. I do see that as a moral problem. I'd prefer to have some kind of club system in which members would make some commitment to only download copies of books they actually have paid for. (Or possibly that are long out of print... that's a separate issue.)
Now, going back to practicality, I suspect that most people who download or upload a book without having paid for it in another form either a) will never read it, because they are simply hoarding (a
lot of this goes on in the darknet gift economy) or b) will eventually buy something else by the author, especially if the author's works are available as ligit ebooks. In other words, from a practical standpoint, I don't think piracy is much of a threat to real-world sales.
So, Steve, we can debate morality or practicality, whichever you prefer...
(but with respect to the other participants, I'm going to ignore the name-calling and bickering about whether an idea can be owned, because I don't think that part of this thread is constructive.)