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View Poll Results: How do you get your ebooks? | |||
I buy most of my ebooks |
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214 | 64.85% |
I use P2P to get most of my ebooks |
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87 | 26.36% |
I use P2P to read my ebooks and then buy the good ones (nobody believes this btw.) |
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23 | 6.97% |
I don't read ebooks |
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6 | 1.82% |
Voters: 330. You may not vote on this poll |
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#511 |
curmudgeon
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Join Date: Jun 2006
Location: Redwood City, CA USA
Device: Kobo Aura HD, (ex)nook, (ex)PRS-700, (ex)PRS-500
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Zelda (and others) asked why an author's estate should continue to collect royalties after the author's death.
The answer is two-fold. Historically, the argument was the "widows and orphans" argument. To use a musical example George Gershwin composed Rhapsody in Blue and An American in Paris (not to mention a ton of hit popular songs!) at quite a young age. He then died tragically young (at 39). Would you claim that his widow and children (if any) should not have been allowed to receive royalties on those compositions after his death? The more thoughtful version of the argument is this one. Suppose that copyright terminated on the death of the creator. This would mean that a masterwork created at age 21 has greater value to the creator than does a masterwork created at age 75. Given that the sole justification for copyright (in the US) is found in Article 1 Section 8 of the Constitution (see this post for more on that), we now ask: how do we make sure that we actually "promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts"? Specifically, does it make sense to reduce a creators financial incentive to create as that creator ages? IMHO a fixed term of copyright (with possible renewal) would be a reasonable choice. Life+X years, by comparison partially fails the second test -- and may be too long a term for great works by very young creators who are subsequently long-lived. My ideal copyright system would contain at least the following features:
What do you folks think? Xenophon |
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#512 | |
Guru
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Join Date: Jul 2008
Location: The Third World
Device: iLiad + PRS-505 + Kindle 3
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A "fair amount" has got to be something between "not enough" and "too much". So, in your opinion how much is, in pounds, a "fair amount" to be paid to Dan Brown for his work? ![]() |
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#513 |
eBook Enthusiast
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Karma: 93383099
Join Date: Nov 2006
Location: UK
Device: Kindle Oasis 2, iPad Pro 10.5", iPhone 6
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I don't know - I can't put a figure on it. I see no reason to "ban" authors from becoming millionaires if their work is commercially successful, any more than we'd ban someone from being a success in any other field. The discussion here is about how long someone should be "allowed" to profit from their work, not how much money they make from it. I definitely believe that someone should be able to retain the "rights" to their creation for their lifetime, and there's a good case to be made for a short extension of that to provide for dependents.
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#514 | |
curmudgeon
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Join Date: Jun 2006
Location: Redwood City, CA USA
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Remember that whatever royalty Dan Brown get for his (nearly unreadable IMHO) books came one purchase at a time from willing buyers in a more-or-less open market. Yeah, his publishers paid him an advance, but that just means they took a risk based on his past sales record. He could probably have negotiated for a higher royalty and lower advance if he so desired. Xenophon |
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#515 | |||
Guru
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Karma: 1496807
Join Date: Jul 2008
Location: The Third World
Device: iLiad + PRS-505 + Kindle 3
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If I die my wife won't get a penny other than what I have saved in my lifetime (she earns more than I do, and she won't even have my pension). So, or every other worker gets the same treatment, or Gershwin loses his one. Quote:
The per-copy-sold model is the worst I can imagine. Using your same analogy: is it fair that a Shakira is paid 1000 times a Ludovico Einaudi? Is "Progress" to have tons of Harry Potter wannabes because they sell much better than a new "ulysses"? That kind of "financial incentive" promotes trash much more than Art! Come on! A photo poster of a couple of big tits sells more copies than Bresson's Station! Quote:
And never more than 100 times the world's average income (the escess amount coming from hardcopy sales, movie rights, etc.. is used to pay other writers minimum...) If you want to be rich, establish your Standard Oil and be happy. ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
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#516 | |
Zealot
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Karma: 114
Join Date: Jan 2009
Device: Amazon Kindle
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I think you might be insane. |
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#517 | ||||
curmudgeon
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Join Date: Jun 2006
Location: Redwood City, CA USA
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![]() I suspect that you and I are mutually inpursuasible on this topic. Xenophon |
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#518 | |
Grand Sorcerer
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Karma: 37057604
Join Date: Jan 2008
Device: Pocketbook
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I like (and have also suggested the same general structure. But I'll make some nip and tucks to it. SIDEBAR (Everybody talks about Life + X to protect widows and ophans of creators. Ophans should not be protected after age of majority! The author went out and earned a living, so should his grown childen! I might stretch it to 25 for additional education, assuming they were conceived but not born until after the author's death, but that's max. And if the children are already grown, no X for them! As for widows, X would be their lifetime, period.) END SIDEBAR You won't get in implemented against the heavy lobbying of the Big Copyright players unless you have equal guns on your side. Instead of making payable extension, make it taxable! After 20 years, if you want to keep your copyright, you have to pay a I.P. property tax every year. If it is not paid for 3 years, it reverts to the public domain. This brings in politicians to your side who are alway looking for more money to buy vot...err, help people with. That's how LBJ (cursed be his name) got Food Stamps embedded in the government during the Great Society. |
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#519 | |
Provocateur
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Karma: 505847
Join Date: Feb 2009
Location: Columbus, OH
Device: Kindle Touch, Kindle 2, Kindle DX, iPhone 3GS
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#520 |
intelligent posterior
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Join Date: Mar 2009
Location: Ohiopolis
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The arguments against filesharing ignore the realities. What consumers 'should' do and creators and distributors 'ought' to get is immaterial; where legitimate channels do not meet demand at a bearable price, black markets will emerge. Trying to quash those markets without addressing the shortcomings of the official channels only breeds ill will and diverts resources.
Personally, my conscience on file-sharing is proportionate to my paycheck, which is a little light right now. With books in particular, though, today's torrent will very likely be tomorrow's hardcover. Media companies would be better off ceding filesharing to Fair Use and leveraging it for promotional value. |
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#521 | |
Grand Sorcerer
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Karma: 37057604
Join Date: Jan 2008
Device: Pocketbook
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And only for those writer that have a "big enough" endowment at the end of their lives to justify it. Statistically, 99% won't... |
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#522 | |
Grand Sorcerer
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Karma: 25133758
Join Date: Nov 2008
Location: SF Bay Area, California, USA
Device: Pocketbook Touch HD3 (Past: Kobo Mini, PEZ, PRS-505, Clié)
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Copyright laws were created to avoid that problem. Creative artists (whether book, picture, or scientific) are given the option to control use of their works for a limited time, in order to encourage widespread sharing of information and ideas. |
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#523 | |
Wizard
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Karma: 529619
Join Date: May 2007
Device: iRex iLiad, DR800SG
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#524 |
Provocateur
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Karma: 505847
Join Date: Feb 2009
Location: Columbus, OH
Device: Kindle Touch, Kindle 2, Kindle DX, iPhone 3GS
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You're missing an important factor: authors usually can only get published via *exclusive* deals with publishers, at least for a given country. If the copyright is allowed to go into public domain, the publisher loses his monopoly on distribution. Thus, regardless of the value of the bibliography, publishers would like to lock up that copyright as long as possible. A writer who is about to expire is in a good position to bargain greater royalties (for his old family) from a publisher by agreeing to marry a young bride before it's too late.
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#525 | |
Zealot
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Karma: 114
Join Date: Jan 2009
Device: Amazon Kindle
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But I guess it’s ok because those damn publishers are so damned evil, and your selfish desires supersede not only the law, but basic human decency as well. You make it sound as though you simply have no other choice but to take what you want, and cannot or should not be held accountable because you don’t like the way publishers do business. Lot’s of things, hell, most things are moderately to grossly over-priced, but that doesn’t justify what amounts to a modern version of frontier justice. Last edited by Good Old Neon; 04-02-2009 at 03:40 PM. |
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