Quote:
Originally Posted by BlackVoid
YES IT DOES! Most countries ALLOW downloads for private use. 
Ebook prices should be 50% or less compared to the paper book price. Otherwise what is the point???
A paper book is much more valuable than a digital one.
It does not have DRM.
You can legally lend it to a friend.
It is easy to sell.
You can burn it for heat.
Pricing ebooks at the same price as paper books is self-defeating. The truth is that publishers simply do not want ebooks to succeed at all. |
While I agree with the point that the additional limitations decrease the value of an ebook in comparison to a pbook I don't believe that in any way means it is either legal or moral to download copyrighted ebooks from illegitimate sources simply because one believes the price is too high - or for any other reason.
The idea that downloading is fine but uploading is illegal is a bit of a slippery slope - and also comes from specific cases such as music laws in Canada. Canada charges a blank media levy on recordable media such as CDs which is divided among the music industry to cover casual copying. This has been extended in many people's minds to cover downloading on the grounds that by accepting the levy the industry has agreed to the downloading.
Please note, publishers do not receive any of this money and so ebooks are not covered in this situation. These laws are not blanket permission to download anything just because it's 'for personal use.' That defense is particularly inappropriate when dealing with entertainment IP which is almost by definition 'for personal use.'