Quote:
Originally Posted by Yar-PocketBooker
The idea behind the Bookland.net is to make it not only English book site, but to include there all languages possible. Of course we prefer non-DRM versions, but this publishers are dictating this now.
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Gutenberg.org also has other languages. Not a criticism! The more the merrier. I was just wondering if there are any technical differences that make it better to download from bookland.net. I notice that the download process is slightly different -- at gutenberg.org you have to download and save whereas at bookland.net you click and get the (unreadable) epub file itself, then save.
Although I am an author myself, I think and hope the publishers will lose the battle for DRM et al., just as the music publishers are losing it. The huge majority of authors make very little if any money from their books. Stieg Larsson is dead, for heaven's sake, as are many (most?) other authors "protected" by copyright. The main interests involved in this battle are just greedy people trying to feed off the intellectual property of other people who do not benefit materially from their work. There are other rewards, which are quite enough for most authors. Copyright should serve to protect the author's "ownership" of his own work and prevent plagiarism (unaccredited copying or plain theft, or misrepresentation), but that is not the same as trying to keep a price tag on that work. I can't copy
Moby Dick and claim authorship, either, even though it is public domain. I think this is fine.
The whole mess is particularly insane when it comes to songs. Strictly speaking, you cannot even sing a song, much less copy it -- either music or lyrics or both -- without permission, and good luck in trying to find out exactly what is in the public domain in what country when without paying a lawyer a fortune to find out for you. This is disgusting.