Quote:
Originally Posted by Good Old Neon
Is the book available in hardcopy, if the answer is yes, you have more than enough access to it, so again, stealing is not the alternative.
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That's a good point.
But let's explore it a little.
Of course, you have no objection if, instead of buying a new treebook, I walk around the corner to my friendly neighborhood used book store and buy a used copy there. Perfectly legal.
So your objection can't be that I am not paying the writer/publisher. You will be happy so long as I pay
somebody., i.e., the used book dealer.
Now, under the law, it is seems clear that I can scan the used book I just bought to space shift it for my own use. No different than Tivoing a television program. So I buy the book, and then scan it into my 505. Perfectly legal. Absolutely fair use.
But notice the rather odd result. In order to satisfy your sense of legality/morality, I have to pay a used book dealer for the privilege of having an ecopy of a book, because the writer/publisher won't sell me an ecopy.
Well, I suppose that your position has some economic force. Presumably, the price of the new treebook incorporates the used book factor in some fashion. But I think that the whole process is rather attenuated, particularly since there is no reason that the writer/publisher can't just sell me an ebook I can read, and be done with it.
But your observation does provide a safe harbor for those whose thinking is different than mine.