Quote:
Originally Posted by HarryT
Why on Earth would anyone think that the fact they'd bought a paper book somehow entitled them to a free eBook? The logic of that eludes me. It's a completely different medium.
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...he said, clutching his pearls and wishing his fainting couch were closer at hand.
I don't know why the logic eludes you, it's an easy analogy from music to books. I know we think that books are special darlings, but some (ruffians of dubious intelligence) probably wouldn't feel morally perturbed by downloading a pirated copy of an ebook, rather than taking the time to scan it themselves, just like I (in my wild years) didn't see a problem downloading an MP3 rather than ripping the CD.
We're not talking about what is and isn't legal here, we're just talking about someone's reaction, and how that reaction could affect the service that is the subject of this thread. I just think that someone who might be interested in getting a digital version of a book they own may see little value in paying (even a discounted amount) for the digital version, if they don't have any particular qualms about converting media from one format to another.
You don't have to agree with the above (and no upstanding individual ever should), but it shouldn't be too hard to see how someone who makes a different set of value judgements could, and what affect that might have on this service.
Quote:
Originally Posted by DuckieTigger
Not exactly. You can grab used pbooks for nearly nothing in second hand shops. Grab one for nearly nothing, now you own it. Now you are entitled to your free copy in ebook?
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No one is talking about "entitlement". I meant to say that someone might feel morally okay in downloading a book they already own. If they can format shift a CD to an MP3, why not a book to an ebook?
Some (truly terrible individuals, I'm sure) would probably not have an issue with doing this format shifting with a used book, just like they might not have an issue doing it was a used CD.
I'm going to expose myself a little more, and say that I once converted a used VHS movie (the first animated Transformers movie) to digital, rather than just buying a digital version (which wouldn't have been available at the time). Did I feel bad about that? Not for a second. I owned the movie, I just converted it to a more useful format. Now my time is more valuable, so I might just rebuy it instead of going through a Rube Goldberg-like conversion process, but I could see why someone else might just think, "why not just download a version someone has already converted?"