Amazon and B&N get heat for selling Project Gutenberg books.

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The Washington post recently release this article criticizing Amazon for for public domain books, specifically Project Gutenberg versions.

Kindle readers, take note: You may have been paying for books you could legally download for free--in nearly identical editions--elsewhere.

The titles in question aren't just public-domain books that have long been freely available at such sites as Project Gutenberg. They appear to be the exact Gutenberg files, save only for minor formatting adjustments and the removal of that volunteer-run site's license ...

BoyGenuis has done some digging around and has also found out B&N is also charging for PD books as well.


Post over at the B&N Fourm site

Basically anyone can do this to make money with no effort: go to http://www.gutenberg.org, download anything you can think of, then sell them on NOOKBooks. You will make some sales, because when you sort by release date your books come up first. ...

Amazon has responded by stating those books are not Amazon books but where uploaded by a third party using their Self Publish feature.

From the WP story I downloaded the book they used as an example from PG's web site and downloaded the Amazon a sample of the Kindle book and to my surprise they are identical. My initial thought was that this book was reformatted and uploaded hence a charge, however that is not the case it is indeed it is an exact copy.

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[CleverClothe]

As always, buyer beware.

[Kali Yuga]

B&N has been charging for paper versions of public domain books for years. So has Penguin and a host of other publishers.

Like it or not, this is actually what public domain is all about. If PG wants to format them and give it away for free, more power to them. If someone else takes PG's work and slaps a price tag on it, with or without adding materials, it's fair game. If someone wants to take Pride and Prejudice and add a bunch of zombies to it, it's wide open.

"Caveat emptor" strictly applies to how well the editions are formatted, and you can always get a sample to see if it's any better than what you'd get from PG, Manybooks or other free sources.

[JeremyR]

Good. They should. That's one of the things that's bugged me about the Amazon store (don't have a Nook, but it would bother me there).

I've read of cases too where people were selling Wikipedia articles about authors.

And frankly, it's in Amazon's own best interest to clean this problem up. Every time someone gets burned for paying for a book like this and then discovers they've been had, or simply bought a poor product, they've probably lost a customer.

[rogue_librarian]

Originally Posted by Kali Yuga

B&N has been charging for paper versions of public domain books for years. So has Penguin and a host of other publishers.

That's because the actual printing, warehousing, distributing etc. of these books cost money. Penguin in particular offers a lot of added valued, too, commentaries, etc. That's not true for selling the actual PG file, though.

"Caveat emptor" strictly applies to how well the editions are formatted, and you can always get a sample to see if it's any better than what you'd get from PG, Manybooks or other free sources.

Tricking people into shelling money out for something that has no monetary value per se is the very definition of fraud in my jurisdiction.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by Kali Yuga

B&N has been charging for paper versions of public domain books for years. So has Penguin and a host of other publishers.

But the "Penguin Classics" editions are pretty much as far from the "raw" PG texts as it's possible to get. They are scholarly editions, with extensive introductions, notes, and other material.

[tubemonkey]

Originally Posted by CleverClothe

As always, buyer beware.

You summed it up best.

[abookreader]

B&N has been charging for paper versions of public domain books for years. So has Penguin and a host of other publishers.

That's what I was going to say. This isn't anything new.

That's because the actual printing, warehousing, distributing etc. of these books cost money. Penguin in particular offers a lot of added valued, too, commentaries, etc. That's not true for selling the actual PG file, though.

You have a good point but then you are going to slide into the territory of Amazon making content decisions which they are clearly reluctant to do and is a policy I support. As it has been pointed out, it is possible for a seller to add value to the Public Domain books ... with better formatting, commentaries, links to additional resources.. I've personally paid 99cents or a couple of books for Public Domain books that have value added and I haven't felt cheated.

My thought on this one is not only "Buyer Beware" but also the fact that Amazon will not only let a Kindle user sample a book before purchase, they will also refund a book up to 7 days after purchase.

So I really don't see trickery here.

[jbcohen]

Does anyone recall Borders doing the same thing?

[mikeayers]

Does anyone know if you buy a PD book from amazon, does it end up in your archive? So you can delete from your Kindle but the keep a copy for you? If they do that, I can see that as a value add.

[Jaime_Astorga]

This is perfectly legal, as it should be. That doesn't mean the practice isn't reproachable, though; they are clearly relying on people's ignorance of resources such as Project Gutenberg. The appropriate response is to spread useful information; publishing articles criticizing services and pointing out alternatives is also legal, after all. Good for the Washington Post.

[kindlekitten]

Originally Posted by jbcohen

Does anyone recall Borders doing the same thing?

so did you wake up one day and decide; "I hate all things Amazon and Kindle and I am going to troll the MR forums for fun."?

seriously. get a life and a different agenda

[jasonkchapman]

Originally Posted by rogue_librarian

Tricking people into shelling money out for something that has no monetary value per se is the very definition of fraud in my jurisdiction.

I get what you're saying, but that's a bit too broadly stated, as it encompasses the sale of ephemera, such as entertainment, or non-material services, such as prostitution. Value is in the eye of the beholder.

Depending on the price, I might happily pay for a public domain text if it were, say, formatted in a way I wanted it without having to do it myself.

[abookreader]

Originally Posted by jbcohen

Does anyone recall Borders doing the same thing?

Doing the same thing as allowing a Publisher to take a Public Domain book and sell it? Of course they do - because it is a service that many customers WANT and are willing to pay money to obtain.

Mobi Classics Call of the Wild right here for 89cents.

http://www.borders.com/online/store/...sku=1605012122

I'm sure there is probably 100s if not 1000s of similar titles.

[murraypaul]

The titles in question aren't just public-domain books that have long been freely available at such sites as Project Gutenberg. They appear to be the exact Gutenberg files, save only for minor formatting adjustments and the removal of that volunteer-run site's license

Just to point out that removing the license is not a nefarious way of tricking people, it is a requirement of PG if you sell their books. Leaving the license in would be wrong.