Do you pirate books and why?

[elsa.moon]

I pirate once in a while because I know that book will not be publicated in my country and when I try to buy it via my kindle, amazon gaves me headache because I don't have an address in UK or USA, ... etc.

[ucfgrad93]

Originally Posted by tubemonkey

That's better.

Personally, I feel the author/owner has the right to dictate format and I'll never obtain a format that hasn't been legally produced.

I agree completely. I may not like the fact that JKR hasn't released the Harry Potter ebooks yet, but that is her decision to make.

[ProfCrash]

And you are in the moral and ethical right spot by accepting her wishes.

[John Barlow]

I pirated a book last year because although it was out in paperback, the ebook was 12,99 POUNDS. In general I buy ebooks because, 1) they are cheap, 2) it's simpler.

[spindlegirl]

Originally Posted by Ninjalawyer

Why? What is the functional difference?

Obviously your approach has the definite benefit of attracting no legal liability though, so from a personal perspective it makes total sense. I'm just curious why the source matters when you have the CD anyway.

If I am going away for a month to another country, it's easier to transport my collection on my sansa clip, and not be holding my breath that naturally MY luggage is the one that will get lost or stolen?....

In the olden days when I got film developed on my camera, I also wanted to keep the negative even though I had the photo sitting in my album...

[Ninjalawyer]

Originally Posted by spindlegirl

If I am going away for a month to another country, it's easier to transport my collection on my sansa clip, and not be holding my breath that naturally MY luggage is the one that will get lost or stolen?....

In the olden days when I got film developed on my camera, I also wanted to keep the negative even though I had the photo sitting in my album...

I was really just curious what you thought the difference was between ripping a CD you own and just downloading an MP3 (where you also own the CD). You seemed to imply there was a difference.

As for ebooks, I'm not sure where I fall when it comes pirating a copy when you already paid for the paper version (and no legit ebook version is available). I can see the argument that it's up to the author/publisher to decide to put it in ebook form, but I'm not sure how its really different than ripping a CD or a DVD you own, which is legal (assuming the dvd doesn't have a digital lock).

Why is format shifting a DVD/CD okay, but doing the same to a book morally questionable (at best)?

[spindlegirl]

Originally Posted by Ninjalawyer

I was really just curious what you thought the difference was between ripping a CD you own and just downloading an MP3 (where you also own the CD). You seemed to imply there was a difference.

As for ebooks, I'm not sure where I fall when it comes pirating a copy when you already paid for the paper version (and no legit ebook version is available). I can see the argument that it's up to the author/publisher to decide to put it in ebook form, but I'm not sure how its really different than ripping a CD or a DVD you own, which is legal (assuming the dvd doesn't have a digital lock).

Why is format shifting a DVD/CD okay, but doing the same to a book morally questionable (at best)?

I don't know either. If I had the tools and the expertise to re-format my own books, I probably would too. Thankfully most of the books I bought to own are also at Project Gutenberg, so I didn't need to. I think it is perfectly legit to scan and keep a book you own on a computer. I can't see why it shouldn't be. There's even a thread on this website talking about a company that will scan and reformat each book for a dollar, so clearly it's legal for someone to even perform the service for someone else. (I couldn't afford the postage, living where I live)

A lot of people seem to have issues with people saving their own CD to their hard drive, yet had no problem in the 80's with people making a mixed tape of their favorite songs from their record collection to have a play list for their walkman? Doesn't make sense to me. If I bought the music, I should hear it how I like, when I like as long as I'm not bugging the neighbours

[Pinecone]

Bottom line is, people will do what they feel comfortable with, and no amount of discussion will change the vast majority of them.

[WT Sharpe]

That could be said about issue under the sun. And if it's true, we might as well reduce all of language to four phrases: "work now", "eat now", "I hurt", and "need sex."

[ProjeKtWEREWOLF]

How is ebook piracy THAT different to buying used paper editions? After all, the authors/publishers don't see a cut of the money from these either.

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by ProjeKtWEREWOLF

How is ebook piracy THAT different to buying used paper editions? After all, the authors/publishers don't see a cut of the money from these either.

It's different because a used book sale reduces the number of copies available for sale. There are a limited number of used books for sale.

This is not the case with pirated ebooks.

[tompe]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

It's different because a used book sale reduces the number of copies available for sale. There are a limited number of used books for sale.

This is not the case with pirated ebooks.

But that is not a real difference if you do not run out of available used books. Today when you can use the net to buy a used book you can always find it if it exists.

[spindlegirl]

Originally Posted by tompe

But that is not a real difference if you do not run out of available used books. Today when you can use the net to buy a used book you can always find it if it exists.

The only real obvious difference is that with an e-book I can spam thousands of people at the push of a button, but with a tree-book it's one copy being passed around.

But for me, I find the "end-user" experience of sharing tree-books to be no different than if I had the e-book and if it were legal to share. I used to swap a crapton of printed books with folks at BookCrossing and it outraged authors as much as if it were piracy. (In the bookcrossing forums some authors hated the idea of "the world's largest library")

In theory it kind of makes sense that an author is as outraged for physical bookswapping, the end result is the same, pretty much with the exception that with an e-book, it makes a copy. It's just a slower form of pretty much the same thing. (except try calling it "piracy" with a straight face) but it's the one reason I still prefer tree-books in some respects. With e-books being all the rage, people are passing out tree-books like candy.

For me, if I have a zillion printed books and I am only reading one at a time it is no "less convenient" to me to not physically have said treebook at my address than it is to have it sitting on my shelf unread. So physically swapping a book is the way to go.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by John Barlow

I pirated a book last year because although it was out in paperback, the ebook was 12,99 POUNDS. In general I buy ebooks because, 1) they are cheap, 2) it's simpler.

Did you also buy the paperback to compensate the author?

[fjtorres]

Originally Posted by Ninjalawyer

I was really just curious what you thought the difference was between ripping a CD you own and just downloading an MP3 (where you also own the CD). You seemed to imply there was a difference.

FWIW: I don't buy digital download music, just CDs.
And then I rip them myself. The reasons?
1- I buy the CDs on sale or used, so they're cheaper.
2- I rip them to high-quality compressed files for my portable player with a high-quality ripper app.
3- I also rip them to a lossless format for my home entertainment system and for PC use.
4- I get to keep the CDs as archival copies and home decoration.

Depending on the tools you use, personally-ripped files will be of a higher quality than even commercial downloads. It doesn't take long.