Baen Free CD's downloads

[Fbone]

I went to the library and made a copy of the CD that was in the back endpage.

[calvin-c]

Originally Posted by theducks

LMB went over the top when she used the 'P' word

I most definitely agree with this. If I didn't already have all her works that I'm interested in her comment might make me also refuse to buy more-but I don't think it'd make me disparage her in return. At least not publicly. Ignore her, yes, but not disparage her.

If I owned one of the sites she called 'pirate' sites then I might think about suing her. She would have a definite right to ask me to stop distributing her books but has no right to do so in a disparaging way assuming there's a reason I might reasonably believe it's OK to do so. The terms you quote are such a reason-although legally they only give you the right to copy, not to distribute. (I'm not sure how a court decision would rule on it, they might hold that including the 'no charge' term implicitly gives the right to distribute as it makes little sense otherwise. But then courts do prefer explicit terms in contracts to implicit so I'm not really sure how that would go.)

Anyway, it's still her right to ask sites that she did not directly give distribution rights to to stop distributing her books. Even doing it rudely, as it appears she did, doesn't remove those rights. (Sometimes I wish rudeness were punishable but it isn't.) As you pointed out she'll probably never be totally successful in getting distribution of the 'free' versions to stop but that's how it seems to be on the Internet and it doesn't affect her rights. The only question I can see is how long she intends to keep trying.

[jgaiser]

Originally Posted by theducks

calvin-c

It is kind of hard to close a barn door to keep horse within after they have fled.
The CD (as all the others) has a published Terms of Use: Free to Copy. No charge permitted.

Yep.. Second paragraph of the index.html says share but don't sell.

If Ms. Bujold or her agents didn't understand what that meant, she either needs to get a new agent or a better understanding of what 'share but don't sell' means.

I enjoy her writing. I own most of the Miles books. Doesn't mean that I wasn't disappointed in her attitude to the incident.

[Blossom]

I remember when this happen I deleted the CD Image and put her on my Do Not Buy list. I have friends who had highly recommended her books so when this CD was released I was excited to get it but then the whole drama thing happened and it left a bad taste in my mouth. I felt she was being totally unreasonable. I even read the entire thread at the forum she posted it. I'll never regret my decision I've got plenty other authors I can read and support.

[DrNefario]

Imagine being upset that 20 years of your award-winning labour is being given away freely online.

Imagine how helpful you'd find any response that contains the words "shouldn't have."

I'd say that the spirit of the CD terms was that hardback owners could share them with their friends. I think the open internet distribution was maybe an unwanted side-effect. I think it's great that the main web distributors have respected the author's wishes, and honestly, I feel that boycotting Bujold for her mistaken attitude is cutting off your nose to spite your face. If I had to choose between Bujold and the entire rest of Baen, I'd choose Bujold.

I own them all up to Cryoburn on paper, some more than once. I downloaded the Cryoburn CD from Fifth Imperium when it was available. It's nice to have e-versions of the books.

[jersysman]

I remember when this all came up. It didn't make her look good in a lot of people's eyes. On one hand, I can understand what she was talking about. But my opinion is that she took in too far. Even going as far as calling some sites pirate sites. That didn't sit too well with me and I haven't bought any of her books since.

[PurpleStar]

Her comments don't bother me too much. It's her work and she can distribute it how she wants. I just wish she would offer them on other sites besides amazon. I recently bought Memory there so I'd have the whole set of Vorkosigan books to read. (Of course I had to crack the DRM to read it as amazon is the only place to get it). I got the rest from the Cryoburn cd before it was pulled of the fifth imperium site.

[jgaiser]

Originally Posted by PurpleStar

Her comments don't bother me too much. It's her work and she can distribute it how she wants. I just wish she would offer them on other sites besides amazon.

Ms. Bujold's Vorkosigan series have always been available from Baen, in multiple formats and with no DRM. Only recently have the ebooks appeared on Amazon.

http://www.baenebooks.com/s-13-lois-...er-bujold.aspx

[PurpleStar]

Originally Posted by jgaiser

Ms. Bujold's Vorkosigan series have always been available from Baen, in multiple formats and with no DRM. Only recently have the ebooks appeared on Amazon.

http://www.baenebooks.com/s-13-lois-...er-bujold.aspx

They are not all available on Baen anymore as I believe the rights reverted back to Ms. Bujold. Memory definitely isn't purchasable on Baen anymore, otherwise I would have bought it there if I had the choice.

[Calenorn]

Originally Posted by PurpleStar

They are not all available on Baen anymore as I believe the rights reverted back to Ms. Bujold. Memory definitely isn't purchasable on Baen anymore, otherwise I would have bought it there if I had the choice.

The Baen site is a little confusing. Many titles shown there say "not currently available" when you click on them. Some of the Bujold titles do this, but not all of them.

I wonder why Baen continues to display books that they cannot sell on their website.

[PurpleStar]

Originally Posted by Calenorn

The Baen site is a little confusing. Many titles shown there say "not currently available" when you click on them. Some of the Bujold titles do this, but not all of them.

I wonder why Baen continues to display books that they cannot sell on their website.

I would guess so people can still download them if they had already purchased them.

[Calenorn]

Originally Posted by PurpleStar

I would guess so people can still download them if they had already purchased them.

I suppose so. Still, if I buy one of their paper books and wear it out through repeated readings, they won't give me a free replacement.

[jgaiser]

Originally Posted by PurpleStar

They are not all available on Baen anymore as I believe the rights reverted back to Ms. Bujold. Memory definitely isn't purchasable on Baen anymore, otherwise I would have bought it there if I had the choice.

Interesting. You are correct. I must have purchased Memory before reversion, because the ebook is still available for download for me. And when I look at the book list I provided above, Memory along with all the other novels in the series are listed.

[AnemicOak]

Originally Posted by PurpleStar

I just wish she would offer them on other sites besides amazon. I recently bought Memory there so I'd have the whole set of Vorkosigan books to read. (Of course I had to crack the DRM to read it as amazon is the only place to get it).

So she's DRMing the versions she's self-publishing? I didn't realize that.

[PurpleStar]

Originally Posted by AnemicOak

So she's DRMing the versions she's self-publishing? I didn't realize that.

It doesn't say Simultaneous Device Usage: Unlimited, so I just assume it has DRM. No way to really tell, though for sure.