Quote:
Originally Posted by mr ploppy
True, but it also disproves the theory that people who download unauthorised content will not pay for that content. As well as donations to sites like that, people also pay for premium usenet access, faster (and ulimited) download slots from Rapidshare, and are also almost certainly paying a premium for faster than they need internet access.
If ebooks were priced as the disposable files that they are, or if publishers had a subscription service where you could download as many as you want, how much of that money that is currently going to pirate sites would end up in the hands of writers instead?
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I agree to this. I would pay a small monthly fee on such a site. I usually read a book then discard it, so it would be like subscribing to a library.
Quote:
Originally Posted by pdurrant
It would still be better to take that $50 and buy one ebook from each of your five favourite authors, than to give it to people who have not contributed to the books at all.
As for ebook costs. The average amount I paid for the ebooks I read (that weren't free) in 2010 was $3.66: https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sho...47&postcount=3
The average amount so far in 2011 is $4.01: https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sho...2&postcount=52
So I reckon you might have been able to find more than five ebooks to spend the $50 on.
Indeed, at Baen books, $50 would get you about 20 ebooks.
You should no more give money to ebook pirates than you should respond to the adverts in spam. |
as to the number of books one could get for $50 that obviously depends on the author and the book. I tried to get the amazon prices for the example I used above, but they won't even sell the Lee Child ebooks here, so I can't get a listing. So even if I wanted to buy them I would have to do another illegality and impersonate an American citizen. I assume they average at about $10/book though.
As to giving money to pirates - actually the money goes to the site that hosts the means to get to the downloads - not to the pirates themselves. They only get virtual thank yous or other forms of recognition, hardly anything they can put on their tables. If one feels grateful for such a site for being able to get books that otherwise it would be impossible to obtain... in my twisted mind it's the same with me being happy with calibre and donating them the same amount.
ETA: I do see the difference that with calibre the author is getting the reward. The similarity is that I am giving the ones that made me happy what I feel the stuff is worth and the amount I can afford.