Sideloading: Own content or "from somewhere else"

[mgmueller]

Originally Posted by cromag

So, here's the problem. The ereader I do almost all of my reading on, my JetBook Lite, doesn't have either an associated online store or wifi, so I have to "sideload" (via USB or by loading onto an SD card) anything I want to read.

This puts you in the camp "sideloading" but not necessarily illegal content.
So you could vote:
- I'm very much into sideloading.
You've got no choice, it's a necessity. But you're into it.
- I buy from my merchant of choice...
There may be some freebies, but I've assumed (yes, I know, another assumption) majority of readers would purchase most of their content, bought titles maybe outweighing free ones 10:1.
- I'm sideloading to save my invest...
This only only partially makes sense for you. Your motivation is not "saving your invest", but it's your only option. Still, the point eventually is true.
- I'm converting to whatever format...
Might or might not be true for you, depending on your source..

I hadn't considered the "sideload only" units, I have to admit, although I still have my Kindle 2 somewhere...

[mgmueller]

Originally Posted by Purple Lady

Maybe instead of saying your own content you could have said your purchased content or legally obtained free books. That way you didn't have to say pirated for the other books and it would have made it more clear to me anyway what you meant by "somewhere else".

I'd thought "I buy from my merchant of choice" (emphasis on "buy") and directly after that "download from somewhere else" (emphasis on the quotation marks) would make it clear, but it seems it did not. Sorry for that. Obviously one can't change the wording of a poll afterwards, else it might falsify the results.

[Purple Lady]

Originally Posted by mgmueller

I'd thought "I buy from my merchant of choice" (emphasis on "buy") and directly after that "download from somewhere else" (emphasis on the quotation marks) would make it clear, but it seems it did not. Sorry for that. Obviously one can't change the wording of a poll afterwards, else it might falsify the results.

I don't buy free books though. There didn't seem to be an answer for legally obtained free books and I have about a 50 50 split on bought and free.

[Ripplinger]

I actually considered the free books I pick up through Amazon, etc. as purchased books. They do make you click the "Buy now with 1 Click" button and they send a $0.00 invoice email receipt to you. So I took the "download from somewhere else" to mean strictly pirated books.

[eschwartz]

Originally Posted by mgmueller

The pirates do care.
It's about finding as many of the books you like to have, with as little effort as possible.
They will convert, if necessary. Most certainly have the skills to do so.
But they aim for finding their stuff, forwarding and spreading it.
And if I listen to their descriptions, availability of ePUBS outweighs any other format at least tenfold.

Okay, of course I can't speak for "all pirates".
But the picture in my tiny test group is absolutely unambiguously.
Imagine, you have to touch hundreds of downloaded books - every single day.
(Well, they probably don't download every day, but you get my point).

I am still waiting to hear about why pirates care about the format (any more than anyone else does).
Especially when it comes to all those pirate "producers".

I can certainly accept that EPUB is more available, but available != preferred.

I would bet, most simply upload whatever their OCR spits out.

[mgmueller]

Originally Posted by Ripplinger

I actually considered the free books I pick up through Amazon, etc. as purchased books. They do make you click the "Buy now with 1 Click" button and they send a $0.00 invoice email receipt to you. So I took the "download from somewhere else" to mean strictly pirated books.

Agreed, you purchased for 0 cent.

And yes, that's what I originally had intended: "Somewhere else" = darknet and other dubious sources.

Basically what I meant: Legally obtained (even free, though I admittedly hadn't thought it would be that heavily used. I never found anything interesting myself amongst the free titles and don't own a single free book, but maybe that's the German market with its price binding policy) vs. illegal content. And this trying to bring in correlation to sideloading.

--> By far not all sideloads are illegal (maybe even the majority isn't). But probably most illegal content is sideloaded.

[eschwartz]

Originally Posted by Ripplinger

I actually considered the free books I pick up through Amazon, etc. as purchased books. They do make you click the "Buy now with 1 Click" button and they send a $0.00 invoice email receipt to you. So I took the "download from somewhere else" to mean strictly pirated books.

So people who read classics downloaded from the Mobileread Patricia Cark Memorial Library, they are pirates?
There is no "purchasing" there.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by mgmueller

Anyway...

I'd be interested to know:
When talking about "sideloading content": Does this mean downloading "from somewhere else" for you? Or does it mean, you've bought the content, but simply free it from DRM and use it on other hardware?

Multiple choices allowed = needed.

One option left out is sideloading eBook from Overdrive. That's an important option that's missing and I cannot properly answer the thread without this.

[mgmueller]

Originally Posted by eschwartz

...I would bet, most simply upload whatever their OCR spits out.

What makes you think, pirated content mainly is from OCRed material?
Why not convert digital content, thus eliminating any discriminating header information (user name, credit card number)?

That's how it happens for movies.
There are tools you legally (?) can buy in open webstores.
They strip iTunes movies (supposedly it even works for rentals) from DRM and make a quick (supposedly loss-free) copy without user information.
I wouldn't rely on such marketing information and certainly never would distribute any content that might link to me. But that's what I've heard about movies and it kind of makes sense.
Of course there's the occasional TV episode you can download only hours after initial broadcast, so this obviously has to bee some digital recording...

Anyway...
Will pirates really scan an OCR?
I've seen this for comics with the respective signature on the front page.
But for books?
Years ago, extremely well made PDFs of the Harry Potter books had been circulated. They definitely had been scanned, this was obvious from the layout and such.
But nowadays?
Maybe some older books still aren't available in digital form and might find their producer via scan and OCR.
But I really would be surprised, if someone went through such troubles for content, that already exists digitally.

[cfrizz]

I have side loaded from day one. When I was first looking into getting a reader back in late 2009 Sony 600 I ended up on this site. Even back then you all were worried about losing books.

I also discovered that I didn't have to wait to get an e-reader to start reading e-books, so I downloaded the Sony reader app for PC and began reading e-books. The only way to read them was to download them to my PC, I didn't get my Sony until early 2010.

I gave Fictionwise a lot of business. But even they told you to download your books to your PC since they could not guarantee that they could keep them forever!

So when I got my reader, I had to side-load them onto the reader.

To me this is just common sense. Why would you leave something you paid for in the hands of someone else? Would you walk out of a store a leave your package sitting on the counter? This is NO different. You paid for it, it belongs in your PC/reader where you have access at all times.

[Ripplinger]

Originally Posted by eschwartz

So people who read classics downloaded from the Mobileread Patricia Cark Memorial Library, they are pirates?
There is no "purchasing" there.

No, that's public domain so I included those under the purchased choice, meaning it came from legit sources, whether I paid or not for it.

[mgmueller]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

One option left out is sideloading eBook from Overdrive. That's an important option that's missing and I cannot properly answer the thread without this.

To me, this clearly would fall into the legally obtained = purchased category.
Some purchases might be for "0", like someone described before for freebies from Amazon, where you still use the 1-click button and get a bill for "0".
Some purchases may be via flatrate/monthly fee. Some may be from public libraries. You don't pay directly, but (eventually) via your taxes.

[eschwartz]

Originally Posted by mgmueller

Agreed, you purchased for 0 cent.

And yes, that's what I originally had intended: "Somewhere else" = darknet and other dubious sources.

Basically what I meant: Legally obtained (even free, though I admittedly hadn't thought it would be that heavily used. I never found anything interesting myself amongst the free titles and don't own a single free book, but maybe that's the German market with its price binding policy) vs. illegal content. And this trying to bring in correlation to sideloading.

You must not read classics then.
Neither do I, but at least I know they exist.

But probably most illegal content is sideloaded.

Not most, all.
In other news, the Sun is round, and yellow.

Sideloaded implies not-delivered-via-storefront-syncing. Unsurprisingly, pirates never download their stolen books from the Storefront.

[Byrdie]

I interpreted "my own content" to mean what I buy (mostly from Kobo and ARe) or have to put in a cart/register at a store to get even if the "price" is free. Downloading from elsewhere to me means freebies from places like Gutenberg, MR, Goodreads (I was pleasantly surprised to find some of the commercial books on my massive Want To Read list over there are freebies, though the offers may be time limited) and fan fiction in Ebook format from places like Archive of Our Own.(AO3). Or the library via OverDrive.

Also, my first ereader came pre-loaded with 100 PD books, which I still have. Did not need to register at a site to "buy" them, so they don't show up in my Kobo or Amazon accounts but they are legit. And side-loaded, since it didn't have any other means of getting books on there.

That old reader wasn't too fussy about .epubs, never could display them properly and often slowed to a crawl whenever I opened one. I had to convert them all to .prc/mobi format, even then it wouldn't always display the covers, though they showed up no problem on my computer. My tablet reads epubs just fine, mostly -- I occasionally run into one that makes my favorite app, CoolReader, crash. Fortunately I have FBReader for that, and the .mobi ones that I just don't like the look of in my Kindle app.

Next reader I plan to buy (my birthday & Christmas are just around the corner) will be a Kobo since it can handle more than just one book format, unlike the Kindle. Also has more font options, which to me is a major plus. Along with side-loading ... sorry, I just don't trust "clouds", you never know what or who is lurking about in 'em.

[Purple Lady]

Originally Posted by Ripplinger

I actually considered the free books I pick up through Amazon, etc. as purchased books. They do make you click the "Buy now with 1 Click" button and they send a $0.00 invoice email receipt to you. So I took the "download from somewhere else" to mean strictly pirated books.

For free books from Kobo, you just click on add to library, and I think Smashwords was the same too. If you get a book directly from an author's website you just click download now. There's plenty of ways to get legal free content without clicking a buy button.