Thread: There's a better way to beat the ebook pirates
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Old 04-26-2011, 11:47 AM   #205
mr ploppy
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Quote:
Originally Posted by ApK View Post
Found that wormhole, eh?

I have as much hard evidence to support specific numbers as you do (virtually none) but I think you're wrong in your 'majorities' and 'mosts.'

But to be clear, is it a matter of percentages for you? It would be a different matter if the percentages were different?
The "majority" statement comes from personal observation. A lot of pirate ebooks come in bundles of 3,000 vaguely related books (scifi, etc). It doesn't seem likely that everyone downloading those will read them all.

It's also based on experience of trading old radio shows on the internet. Years ago I got together with a few other people around the world and we made a definitive collection of one particular show, using the best possible sources and patching on any missing bits from lower quality recordings. But when you see that show for download now, it's always the original ones with missing beginnings/ends, low quality, some with the wrong episode names, etc. So it's unlikely any of the people who upload those actually listen to them or look for upgrades.

Back to unauthorised ebook downloading, I don't really think percentages matter that much. Some people buy after downloading, some people download instead of buying, some people collect files and never do anything with them. Which group has the highest percentage wouldn't really be possible to prove even if you wanted to. Even if people who download instead of buying were a high percentage it still hasn't stopped ebook sales from rising at a phenomenal rate.

I think any attempt to stamp out piracy is futile and a waste of time and money. I also think it is foolish to cut off the supply of people who might go on to buy something else just to spite the people who were never going to pay anyway.
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